Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

(Galatians 5:1-6; Luke 11:37-41)

Sometimes ideas enslave people.  In today’s first reading St. Paul reminds the Galatians that the desire to take on the customs of the Law will enslave them. Paul urges them just to believe in Christ.  Such faith may entail hardship, but any trials will witness to Christ’s love for all.

At other times things enslave people.  Rich foods and every available convenience often keep people from reflection and prayer.  This kind of soft lifestyle described the convent where Teresa of Avila was living.  She revolted against it so that she and her community might be free to live for Christ. Rather than having servants, they lived simply, did their own chores, and spent much time in prayer.  The reform spread to other religious orders and congregations to assist the Catholic Counter Reformation.

Freedom allows us to follow Christ to eternal life.  It keeps us from deformed ideas and debilitating comforts to give ourselves in love.  As Paul memorably says in today’s reading, “For freedom Christ set us free.”

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 5:1-6; Luke 11:37-41)

Jazz has been called “musician’s music.”  Although it may sound undisciplined, it is not for beginners.  Rather jazz players have practiced for years so that their improvisation sounds natural and the notes they strike, just right.  That is like the freedom that St. Paul has in mind in the first reading.

Paul is lecturing the Galatians about the pitfalls of taking on the Jewish law.  He finds them being deceived by the so-called Judaizers saying that they must practice the Law to please God.  He knows that perfection does not come from vain attempts to fulfill the Law’s hundreds of prescriptions.  No, he tells them that Christ has set them free of the Law so that they can love freely.  He means that they might do random acts of kindness above and beyond the demands of justice.

In Christ’s freedom we do not ask, “What is the minimum I have to do to be saved?”  Rather we are moved by the Holy Spirit to care for others in numerous ways.  We find such kindness as hardly burdensome because we have Christ with us.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 5:1-6; Luke 11:37-41)

Two words in the first reading today beg clarification. First, Paul tells u as well as the Galatians that Christ has set us free. He means that Christ has freed humans from the onus of the Law as a way to please God. The Law never worked very well in the first place like kerosene lamps for reading. But Paul does not mean that humans can do whatever they wish now that the Jewish Law has been abolished. Rather, he says, it is for freedom that Christ has freed them. Here freedom refers to the life of the Spirit residing within. Without the Spirit freed people are no better off than an illiterate person who comes to a library to learn. With the Holy Spirit they live exemplary lives that bring joy to neighbors and truly please God.

The second word that needs pondering is faith. Martin Luther stressed the idea that faith alone brings salvation. But did he mean an abstract faith which gives only verbal assent to the truth of Christ’s resurrection? That is not what Paul concludes as he extols “faith working through love.” Without love faith withers like flowers cut off from their stems. Love in a sense is the object of our faith. We are not speaking of human love here, but the divine kind which has rescued humans from the darkness of absolute zero for no absolutely benefit to itself.

Homilette for Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 5:1-6)

Two words in the first reading today beg clarification. First, Paul tells the Galatians (and us) that Christ has set them free. He means that Christ has freed humans from the onus of the Law as a way to please God. The Law never worked very well in the first place like kerosene lamps for reading. But Paul does not mean that humans can do whatever they wish now that the Jewish Law has been abolished. Rather, he says, it is for freedom that Christ has freed them. Here freedom refers to the life of the Spirit residing within. Without the Spirit freed people are no better off than the illiterates in a library. With the Holy Spirit they live exemplary lives that bring joy to neighbors and truly please God.

The second word that needs pondering is faith. Martin Luther stressed the idea that faith alone brings salvation. But did he mean an abstract faith which gives only verbal assent to the truth of Christ’s resurrection? That is not what Paul concludes as he extols “faith working through love.” Without love faith withers like flowers cut off from their water source. Indeed, love in a sense is the object of our faith. We are not speaking of human love here, but the divine kind which has rescued humans from the darkness of absolute zero for no benefit to itself.