Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 3:7-14; Luke 11:15-26)
Pelagius was a fifth century monk who thought like many moderns. According to his critics (few of his works remain), he taught that humans do not need God to be good. Rather, he evidently claimed that human nature has the wherewithal to become saintly. These ideas were condemned by the Church, and the passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians that we read today indicates why.
For Paul the experience of trying to fulfill the 613 precepts of the Jewish Law inevitably ends in failure. It is like trying to cross the ocean with an oxcart. The vehicle is simply not up to the task. But God in His mercy has sent His son Jesus Christ to provide a viable alternative. Acknowledging him as Lord and seeing his death on the cross as the means of salvation will provide one the grace to live a holy life.
“Is the act of believing then a human work?” we may want to ask. In other words, do we cooperate with God’s grace? These are highly nuanced and hotly debated questions. Certainly, the act of faith engages the human will. But it hardly takes an effort to believe when God’s graciousness is perceived in contrast to human folly.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 3:1-5; Luke 11:5-13)
Paul’s frontal attack against the Galatians – “O stupid Galatians, who has bewitched you?” – makes us wonder what kind of people would tolerate such criticism. Most likely Paul is addressing a community of Christians he founded in the northern part of the province of Galatia. The fair-haired and light complexioned inhabitants of that area migrated in the third century before Christ from the region of the Pyrenees Mountains separating what is presently France and Spain. “Galatians” comes from the same root as the Latin word Gallia which refers to the expansive tract of Western Europe that includes modern France.
In Paul’s day Galatians were considered something like the giant but amicable Brobdingnagians of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. One biblical commentator describes the Galatian as “large, unpredictable simpletons, instinctively generous, ferocious and highly dangerous when angry, but without stamina and easy to trick.” Paul evidently considers them good-hearted enough to accept his sharp disapproval without rejecting the gospel he preached. He likely developed a deep rapport when ill health caused him to stay with them for an extended time.
Paul’s language, however, reveals more about himself than about the Galatians. For Paul the single, most important fact of life is God’s redemption of humanity in Jesus Christ. To his mind Christ commissioned him to preach this truth to non-Jews. He does not mean to subjugate anyone with his harsh speech but only to urge them to accept the salvation won by Christ. If strong language is necessary, he would muster the highest indignation. If refined rhetoric would do the job, he would polish his argument. As he himself would write to the Corinthians, “I have become all things to all, so that I might save at least some” (I Cor 9:22).
(Galatians 3:1-5; Luke 11:5-13)
Paul’s frontal attack against the Galatians – “O stupid Galatians, who has bewitched you?” – makes us wonder what kind of people would tolerate such criticism. Most likely Paul is addressing a community of Christians he founded in the northern part of the province of Galatia. The fair-haired and light complexioned inhabitants of that area migrated in the third century before Christ from the region of the Pyrenees Mountains separating what is presently France and Spain. “Galatians” comes from the same root as the Latin word Gallia which refers to the expansive tract of Western Europe that includes modern France.
In Paul’s day Galatians were considered something like the giant but amicable Brobdingnagians of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. One biblical commentator describes the Galatian as “large, unpredictable simpletons, instinctively generous, ferocious and highly dangerous when angry, but without stamina and easy to trick.” Paul evidently considers them good-hearted enough to accept his sharp disapproval without rejecting the gospel he preached. He likely developed a deep rapport when ill health caused him to stay with them for an extended time.
Paul’s language, however, reveals more about himself than about the Galatians. For Paul the single, most important fact of life is God’s redemption of humanity in Jesus Christ. To his mind Christ commissioned him to preach this truth to non-Jews. He does not mean to subjugate anyone with his harsh speech but only to urge them to accept the salvation won by Christ. If strong language is necessary, he would muster the highest indignation. If refined rhetoric would do the job, he would polish his argument. As he himself would write to the Corinthians, “I have become all things to all, so that I might save at least some” (I Cor 9:22).
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 2:1-2.7-14; Luke 11:1-4)
Shosaku Endo was a Japanese Catholic novelist. In his greatest work, The Silence, he wrote of a Jesuit priest laboring in the Japanese missions when Christians were being persecuted. The priest is betrayed to the authorities and told that if he apostatizes, many humble Japanese Christians would be liberated from ruthless torture. The priest agonizes over the decision. In the gospel today Jesus shows his disciples how they must pray to be delivered from such situations.
The Our Father is the apex of Christian prayer even though it does not mention Christ. Rather, it takes its place of priority because it is Jesus’ own prayer. That is, it is not only the one Jesus taught to his disciples, but also evidently the one he echoed in Gethsemane. “Father,” he will say on that occasion, “…not my will but yours be done.” At the same time he will tell his disciples, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.” (cf. Luke 22:40b,42b) The test, of course, refers to the situation of suffering grave persecution for the faith.
Gratefully, most Christians today are not “subject…to the final test” as Jesus exhorts his disciples to pray. But we are, all the time, confronted with temptation, as the more familiar rendition of the prayer has it. Internet pornography is one such temptation. Lying to escape a banal censure is another. In the Our Father we ask God to deliver us from these situations as well.
(Galatians 2:1-2.7-14; Luke 11:1-4)
Shosaku Endo was a Japanese Catholic novelist. In his greatest work, The Silence, he wrote of a Jesuit priest laboring in the Japanese missions when Christians were being persecuted. The priest is betrayed to the authorities and told that if he apostatizes, many humble Japanese Christians would be liberated from ruthless torture. The priest agonizes over the decision. In the gospel today Jesus shows his disciples how they must pray to be delivered from such situations.
The Our Father is the apex of Christian prayer even though it does not mention Christ. Rather, it takes its place of priority because it is Jesus’ own prayer. That is, it is not only the one Jesus taught to his disciples, but also evidently the one he echoed in Gethsemane. “Father,” he will say on that occasion, “…not my will but yours be done.” At the same time he will tell his disciples, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.” (cf. Luke 22:40b,42b) The test, of course, refers to the situation of suffering grave persecution for the faith.
Gratefully, most Christians today are not “subject…to the final test” as Jesus exhorts his disciples to pray. But we are, all the time, confronted with temptation, as the more familiar rendition of the prayer has it. Internet pornography is one such temptation. Lying to escape a banal censure is another. In the Our Father we ask God to deliver us from these situations as well.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 1:13-24; Luke 10:38-42)
Bishop Ken Untener believed that homilies should be short. In workshops around the country he told priests that the Catholic Church is so rich in reminders of the faith that the people do not need long sermons. Rather, he advised, preachers should take from the gospel the truest truth that they can ascertain and tell that to the people. St. Paul seems to do precisely this in the first reading today.
What’s important to Paul is not his life as a Jew or his acquaintance with the apostles. No, he insists that the critical event of his life, which gives meaning to everything that he is and does, is his encounter with the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He does not elaborate on the nature of the meeting, but he does indicate that it made him an apostle with the special mission of preaching the gospel to foreign nations or, as it is translated in the reading, “the Gentiles” – that is most of us.
Protestants often talk about coming to know the Lord Jesus, which leaves many Catholics wondering what they mean. Blessed John Paul II, however, encouraged us to develop a relationship with Christ. We encounter Christ in one another, especially in the poor who trust themselves implicitly to the Lord’s care. We meet him also in listening to the Gospel and even more profoundly in the reception of Holy Communion. It is the summation of these events contemplated over years that most of us have a sense of relationship with the Lord. Like for Paul then, he becomes the whole point of our existence.
(Galatians 1:13-24; Luke 10:38-42)
Bishop Ken Untener believed that homilies should be short. In workshops around the country he told priests that the Catholic Church is so rich in reminders of the faith that the people do not need long sermons. Rather, he advised, preachers should take from the gospel the truest truth that they can ascertain and tell that to the people. St. Paul seems to do precisely this in the first reading today.
What’s important to Paul is not his life as a Jew or his acquaintance with the apostles. No, he insists that the critical event of his life, which gives meaning to everything that he is and does, is his encounter with the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He does not elaborate on the nature of the meeting, but he does indicate that it made him an apostle with the special mission of preaching the gospel to foreign nations or, as it is translated in the reading, “the Gentiles” – that is most of us.
Protestants often talk about coming to know the Lord Jesus, which leaves many Catholics wondering what they mean. Blessed John Paul II, however, encouraged us to develop a relationship with Christ. We encounter Christ in one another, especially in the poor who trust themselves implicitly to the Lord’s care. We meet him also in listening to the Gospel and even more profoundly in the reception of Holy Communion. It is the summation of these events contemplated over years that most of us have a sense of relationship with the Lord. Like for Paul then, he becomes the whole point of our existence.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Monday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 1:6-12; Luke 10:25-37)
In political debates candidates often pander to the desires of the public. The would-be presidents or senators avoid stating their convictions or detailing their plans. Rather, they appeal to corrupted human nature by criticizing their opponents. In the first reading today St. Paul assures us that he is not such a person.
Paul has been informed of a serious aberration in the faith of the Galatians. He preached salvation through faith in Jesus and the imitation of his love. Since he left them, however, other preachers have convinced them of the need to obey the gamut of Jewish laws if they were to follow Christ. After all – the preachers would say – Jesus was a Jew. In his letter Paul assures the Galatians that trying to abide by the Jewish law would entangle them in a mud pile of regulations. He does not court the favors of the Galatians by telling them that they could have it both ways. They must either accept Judaism or accept Jesus.
We may wonder if the Catholic Church has become somewhat like Judaism with its seemingly myriad laws and regulations. We look at some Protestant communities which give their communion to anyone who wants to partake and ask ourselves if the Catholic Church should not be more inclusive. Such questions may be facile, however. The Church looks for true repentance from people who have erred. It further guides the faithful in Christian discipleship with just enough precepts to keep us centered on the Christ’s love.
(Galatians 1:6-12; Luke 10:25-37)
In political debates candidates often pander to the desires of the public. The would-be presidents or senators avoid stating their convictions or detailing their plans. Rather, they appeal to corrupted human nature by criticizing their opponents. In the first reading today St. Paul assures us that he is not such a person.
Paul has been informed of a serious aberration in the faith of the Galatians. He preached salvation through faith in Jesus and the imitation of his love. Since he left them, however, other preachers have convinced them of the need to obey the gamut of Jewish laws if they were to follow Christ. After all – the preachers would say – Jesus was a Jew. In his letter Paul assures the Galatians that trying to abide by the Jewish law would entangle them in a mud pile of regulations. He does not court the favors of the Galatians by telling them that they could have it both ways. They must either accept Judaism or accept Jesus.
We may wonder if the Catholic Church has become somewhat like Judaism with its seemingly myriad laws and regulations. We look at some Protestant communities which give their communion to anyone who wants to partake and ask ourselves if the Catholic Church should not be more inclusive. Such questions may be facile, however. The Church looks for true repentance from people who have erred. It further guides the faithful in Christian discipleship with just enough precepts to keep us centered on the Christ’s love.
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