Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 - Tuesday in the 28th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 1:16-25 and Luke 11:37-41]I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous by faith will live." The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made! [Romans]
This one passage from the beginning of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans contains two points that are important. The first is the line, "The one who is righteous by faith will live." [Rom. 1:17] This line moved Luther to challenge the church in the 16th century and begin the Protestant Reformation. The issue of salvation by "works" or by "faith." Is still hanging around, although there has been some agreement between the Lutheran and Catholic churches on the subject. The fundamental point is that "works" [i.e. sacraments, devotions, good deeds] should reflect the faith that comes first and saves.
The second point is about the revelation of God in what God has created. All of creation speaks to us of God, and our efforts to destroy it by careless destruction of the environment is a direct attack on that creation. Pope Francis spoke to this in two documents: Laudato si' and Laudate dominum. The denial of global warming and other destructive environmental actions by those who profit from such things is a failure to recognize what God has created. We are stewards of creation and not owners.
The Letter to the Romans will continue to challenge us today even if it was written less than 50 years after Jesus' life, death and resurrection. AMEN
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