Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 4:20-25; Luke 12:13-21)
On graduation day college graduates are declared fit to face
the world. They have completed a course
of studies and have successfully passed tests to prove their competence. Faith as St. Paul describes it in today’s
first reading puts the believer in a similar position.
One does not have to do much more than to believe in Christ
to receive the Holy Spirit. Along with
Baptism the believer is ready to live in the world as a saint. However, it should not be thought that faith
alone brings salvation. Love, manifested
in deeds of service, is necessary if one is to enter eternal life. One should not undervalue faith as it makes humans
friends of Jesus. But only with loving
care will that relationship last for eternity.
Of course, this reflection on faith and love takes us to the
controversy that divided Europe in the sixteenth century. Since then theologians on both sides have
worked out a fuller, richer sense of faith like the one attempted here. Catholics must recognize the transcendent
value of faith while Protestants must concede the necessity of love, the
greatest of the virtues.
