Monday, October 8, 2018

Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 1:6-12; Luke 10:25-37)

Liberation theologians of the last century called attention to the need of what they called “orthopraxis.”  This long word comes from two Greek words meaning right practice. The liberationists often said that orthopraxis was more important to salvation than orthodoxy or correct belief.  That statement had some shock value, but as today’s readings indicate, the two – orthopraxis and orthodoxy – correspond like a hand in a glove.

In the first reading Paul expresses dismay with the Galatians for accepting a false doctrine.  By having themselves circumcised, they were rejecting the orthodox position that salvation comes through faith in Christ.  In the gospel Jesus shows howt faith must be applied to the workaday world.  Faith in him means to practice the active love he taught by word and deed.  The Samaritan proves worthy of salvation because he sacrificed his time, effort, and money for the man who was waylaid by robbers. 

Paul will write later in the same Letter to the Galatians, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).  The two – faith and a working love – might be seen as two halves of a paper dollar.  Faith without works cannot purchase us anything because it lacks grounding in life.  On the other hand, love without faith is likewise worthless for salvation because it lacks abiding commitment.  Together faith and love enable us to know Christ which is the essence of eternal life.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Monday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 1:6-12; Luke 10:25-37)

For almost fifty years the western world at least has heard of “Godspell”.  The Broadway musical tells the story of Jesus’ ministry leading to his death.  It presents Jesus as under a spell of goodness which he passes on to others – hence God-spell.  This is not the origin of the word gospel which Paul uses in today’s first reading, but it does indicate the presence of grace which Jesus embodies.

For Paul gospel is the good news of salvation through faith in Christ.  He proclaims this good news with the claim that trusting in Jesus leading to Baptism will save one from the sinfulness that characterizes the world.  He does not mean that the profession of faith works as a magic formula changing the person as the words are uttered.  Rather he intends that faith in Christ testified by works of the kind that Christ describes in today’s gospel marks one as a member of God’s kingdom.

We should see the gospel itself as a kind of grace.  It offers us the words and example of Jesus.  Moved by his words to follow his example, the gospel allows us to encounter Jesus and to remain in his company.  His presence will bring us through the curtain of death itself because He has conquered death.