Word to the Wise
Wednesday, October 12, 2022 - Wednesday in the 28th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gal 5:18-25 and Luke 11:42-46]In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. [Galatians]
What is the "in contrast" referring to? St. Paul calls the contrasting "fruits" the "works of the flesh!" The list is pretty amazing. One wonders what daily life in Galatia must have been like when Paul arrived! "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" are quite a list! However, I do hear several of them in the Sacrament of Reconciliation from time to time! Anyone who has ever been a pastor of a parish knows about factions. Jealousy and envy - join the club! Campus ministers will hear about drinking bouts!
It's important, however, to note that St. Paul is referring not just to individual acts but to the total orientation of the person. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit!" This isn't a matter of picking and choosing among virtues and vices, but the very identity of the baptized Christian, which should orient him or her in a direction away from the life of vice toward a better (and healthier) way of living. That orientation, however, is a life-time effort and not a magical moment in which a magic wand or the kiss of a prince or princess turns a frog into something everlastingly beautiful or handsome! The existence of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is an admission on the part of Christianity of the expression: "It's a great life if you don't weaken!" But we do weaken and must renew ourselves over and over again. As the last line of today's scripture from St. Paul says it: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit!" AMEN