Tuesday of the
Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 1:16-25; Luke
11:37-41)
Since Vatican II many
Catholics have reasoned that if God loves us, He would not condemn anyone. Rather He will give everyone a ticket to
eternal life. Often people hold to this
line of thought without even postulating the need to believe in God. Such thinking clashes with the thought of St.
Paul, especially in today’s reading.
Paul does not refrain
from writing about the wrath of God. Wrath
should be understood here as an anthropomorphism, a description of God with the
attributes of a human. God does not get
angry with humans as we often become irate with one another. But He has respected human free will to accept
Him or to reject Him. Acceptance is more
than lip service, but an intention and an effort to live like His Son, Jesus
Christ. Rejection is the deliberate
choice not to live Christ-like.
Sounds like a
challenge, no? It is difficult to follow
Christ although not impossible. We need
to pray regularly so that we might avoid the temptations of living irresolutely. We also pray to always imitate the love of Jesus,
our Savior.
