Word to the Wise
Monday, October 27, 2025 - Monday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 8:12-17 and Luke 13:10-17]For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. [Romans]
St. Paul came from a region in eastern modern day Turkey which was called Cilicia. This region was part of the Roman empire and, as such, governed by Roman law. One of the features of Roman law - one followed by many modern nations - is "forced heirship." This means a parent cannot disinherit a child except for certain very particular circumstances. St. Paul uses this legal feature to describe the effect of baptism, which makes us "adopted children" of God, and entitles us to call God our "Father!" ["Abba" is closer to our terms "Daddy" or "Papa!"] We do so thousands of times in praying "the Lord's Prayer!" We are also then bound to Christ the Son as "joint heirs" of salvation.
We endanger this relationship by the way we live. St. Paul mentions any number of sins that were common in the Greco-Roman world in several of his letters, especially in First and Second Corinthians. It's not just particular sins but our entire attitude as a child of God, of which a particular sin may be a reflection. Our Catholic sacramental way of life offers us the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but this presumes a real effort to correct the wrongful behavior and not just use the sacrament as a license to continue in the same pattern. Catholic tradition calls this "presumption." If we truly recognize our relationship to God as adopted children and "joint heirs" with Christ the Son of God, we must live accordingly and strive to eliminate the patterns as well as the particular actions in our lives that threaten our status. AMEN