Word to the Wise
Saturday, October 12, 2024 - Saturday in the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gal 3:22-29 and Luke 11:27-28]For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise. [Galatians[
One of the greatest achievements of the Second Vatican Council continues to be a recognition and reclaiming of the significance of the sacrament of baptism. That significance had become obscured by an emphasis on original sin rather than, as St. Paul emphasizes, on the new identification with Christ and what it means for Christian life. The "original sin" emphasis tended to make baptism a past event in the life of a Christian instead of a present power that comes from the Holy Spirit. St. Paul places this within a contrast with the old law given to Moses. The new emphasis is on the promise given to Abraham, our 'father in faith". It is a matter of identity that aims at love of God and neighbor and not at observance of Mosaic precepts. St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the "new law of Christ" as "the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through faith in Christ."
The result of baptism is a "clothing" with Christ which makes us members of the Body of Christ. We are all equal in Christian dignity. The challenge is not so much one of avoiding discrimination but of discernment of gifts to be used for the benefit of the community. Any discernment that appears to create discrimination has to meet a close scrutiny. The current synod in Rome has been wrestling with this because there are points of conflict in the recognition of the dignity of women, sexual identity, divorced/remarried, clerical/lay that are calling for a deeper discernment of the significance of baptism in Christ. St. Paul's challenge to the Galatian community remains a challenge for our Church. By baptism we do not simply get initiated into an organization but into a new identity - the Body of Christ. To make this a matter of legislation is to create the very problem for which St. Paul wrote the Letter to the Galatians! AMEN