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[Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14 and Luke 11:1-4]

     "If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [Galatians]

     The Letter to the Galatians is one of St. Paul's most impassioned writings!  He is worried about certain preachers who came after he had founded the community in Galatia who were insisting that new converts to Christianity from paganism had to adopt Jewish observances, especially male circumcision.  He recalls the meeting in Jerusalem where he "opposed [Peter "Cephas"] to his face because he clearly was wrong."  Peter, himself, was following Gentile practices when preaching to them.  The meeting in Jerusalem, sometimes called the "Council of Jerusalem," decided that those coming to Christianity from pagan religion were not to be required to adopt circumcision but only to follow certain food restrictions.  Nevertheless, there were some preachers who didn't get that message and they were showing up in some of the communities founded by St. Paul.  The Letter to the Galatians is a passionate denunciation of those preachers and their message and a reminder of Paul's preaching.

     Although the celebration is an "optional memorial," today is the feast of Pope St. John XXIII, who summoned the Second Vatican Council.  This act of courage and the subsequent revolution in Catholic practices has suffered some of the same fate that St. Paul's preaching did.  There have been those who insist that certain practices and observances no longer required by the Council are still essential to Catholic faith.  That resistance is still with us and found ways under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to reassert their message while claiming to be faithful to the teachings of the Council.  Pope Francis has reminded us of Pope St. John XXIII's courage and vision (cf. his opening address to the Council) and the true meaning of the Second Vatican Council.  I urge all my Beloved Congregation to read the documents from that Council.  I know it will take great effort.  But the effort will be rewarding, and the subsequent documents, i.e. the Catechism and the revised Code of Canon Law, must be read in the light of those documents and not the other way around.  Let St. Paul's pleas be our encouragement.  AMEN