Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 9, 2008 - St. Louis Bertrand, O.P. (patron of Novice Directors)
[Galatians 3:1-5 and Luke 11:5-13]Does, then, the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds among you do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?
St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians is one of his most intense and passionate communications, and it is not a pleasant one. In today's passage one of the questions he asks is: "Are you so stupid?" He is upset with them because he has heard that certain preachers have come after he was there and told the Galatians that their faith in the gospel still required that they observe the Law of Moses. For Paul (and this is true for us Catholics today), faith is not equivalent to certain physical actions. Physical actions are not what brings about salvation. Physical/moral conduct reflects that faith. We can't just say, "Oh, I believe in God and everything else in the Nicene Creed!" and then engage in immoral conduct as if our actions have no relationship to our faith! Faith is not simply an assent to a set of abstract statements set out in a catechism or dogmatic declaration. Nor is faith the performance of certain religious duties. Faith is a relationship to God. That relationship, on the human side, requires a consistent effort to communicate. God is always ready to listen. Thus the gospel passage today speaks to perserverance in prayer. It was from a distorted notion of prayer, the sale of indulgences, that Luther recoiled and began the wave that ended in the Reformation! There is nothing that we can "pay" to God except attention! When Paul saw that the Galatians were once more giving in to external observance in place of internal faith, he reacted strongly and his letter comes down to us today as a warning! Our behavior is evidence of our faith, not a substitute for it! AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
69 ms
4
