Word to the Wise
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - Wednesday in the 28th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gal 5:18-25 and Luke 11:42-46]Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. [Galatians]
OCTOBER 17 ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH
Today's first scripture from St. Paul's passionate letter to the Galatians offers quite a contrast between the behavior of someone who follows "the flesh" and one who follows "the Spirit." In understanding this contrast, it is important to understand St. Paul's view of the human person. He is not using the soul-body distinction that Christianity adopted from Greek philosophy, but rather using "flesh" and "Spirit" to mean the whole person. Those who are baptized have received God's Spirit and must live according to that Spirit. The world around them will provide plenty of examples of those who do not live according to the Spirit. The list of objectionable behavior that Paul gives is pretty colorful: "immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like." Hmmmm.....that doesn't seem too ancient at all, does it?
The list of behavior that St. Paul gives for those who live "in the Spirit," is:
"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." These are virtues that we all want to acquire as Christians. Our baptism commits us to these. How successful are we with them? Given a definition of a virtue as a disposition to act in a certain way, how disposed are we to act in the ways of the Spirit? St. Thomas Aquinas, borrowing from Aristotle, points out that a habit or disposition to act in a certain way is acquired by repeated behavior. To acquire those behaviors (from either list) means repeated action. The first list brings spiritual death. The second list brings spiritual life. Making the choice requires action and behavior that will not just come by praying for the right virtues (only a part of the process), but by acting according to them. As St. Paul says, "If we lives in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit." AMEN
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