Word to the Wise
Friday, October 23, 2015 - Friday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 7:18-25a and Luke 12:54-59]"I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."
The familiar expression, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!" springs to mind whenever I read this famous passage from St. Paul when he describes the existential dilemma of the human person. On one level his words might be read in our time to describe the situation of someone addicted to gambling, internet porn, alcohol or drugs or food - or anything that a person can become addicted to. However, Paul's approach is broader than addiction and could describe any action that we would not do if we had the chance to think it over. We could find ourselves saying, "I don't know why I did that. It's not in character for me."
The starting point for Paul is important. He is not opposing flesh and soul the way the Greeks did, especially those who followed Plato. His anthropology is Hebraic in which the human is not a composite of body and soul, but a single reality. "Flesh" means the "unconverted" aspect, and "spirit" means the "saved" person. Experience tells us that we can be both at the same time ["simul justus et peccator"] and it is God's mercy that keeps us from going fully to the "flesh" side of our integrity. But there will be anxious moments in all of this. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the way our Catholic tradition offers through this thicket. Nevertheless, Paul is showing that when we reassess our moral standards from a written law to a standard based on the teachings of Christ, we may go through a period of confusion, but the Lord will see us through. AMEN
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