Galatians 3:7-14 / Luke 11:15-26
Paul speaks about salvation: Faith, not the Law, saves us.
A cellar wall in Cologne, Germany, contained a beautiful testimony to faith in God. Workers found it while clearing away debris and rubble from a bombed-out house. Written on the surface of one of the walls were these Words: "I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I do not feel it. I believe in God even when he is silent."
The unknown author's faith is a model of the kind of faith that Paul exhorts us to strive for in today's reading. It is the same kind of faith in God that our father in the faith, Abraham, had.
Do we realize that our faith is a gift, and do we ask God to increase it? "I do have faith, but not enough. Help me have more!" Mark 9:24
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Very often, life is like a paradox; it can be filled with so many strange contradictions. We might think that when something good is done, people would be simply happy and even rejoice and celebrate. But yet for every good that is done, there are criticisms and even slanderous remarks that are made that leaves a sour and bitter taste in the mouth. But that should not be very surprising to us, isn't it? Because it happened to Jesus. He was doing something good by casting out demons. Yet some people could even say that He was in cahoots with the devil. Absurd, isn't it? Maybe it can be said that the most difficult demons to cast out are those that like to criticize, to find fault, to argue regardless of the facts or the truth. That kind of demonic behaviour exists in each of us. In this Eucharist, let us ask Jesus to cast out that kind of demonic behaviour in us. Let us ask Him to cleanse the temple of the Spirit that is within us. And with Jesus in our hearts, let us gather people into the unity of the Spirit.
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Friday of 27th Week
FAITH, LIKE ABRAHAM’S
Introduction
Abraham, our Father in the faith, was a man who lived according to the gospel before Jesus proclaimed his Good News. He trusted God; he followed God’s call without questioning God and demanding proofs. All he got was a promise to believe in, and of that promise he himself – as God told him – would never see the fulfillment.
In sharp contrast, with Abraham, the people of the promise in Jesus’ time challenged and questioned him, especially the religious leaders. Even the signs of liberation from evil that Jesus gave them did not impress them as signs to believe in. What is our attitude toward the signs of God’s care in our lives?
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
faith is all that matters to save us.
We know it, and yet we seek proofs.
Help us to believe in you
on seeing your works:
your creation, your power,
your goodness that we encounter in people.
Grant us to live in trust
with the uncertain certainty of faith,
believing, hoping, loving
and trusting that you have set us free
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commentary
Who are the true descendants of Abraham? This is the question that Paul raises in today’s reading from Galatians. The answer, of course, is those who have faith. In fact, Abraham was told that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him. This means those who have faith, as Abraham did, not those who attempt to obey the law. In fact, those subject to the law are under a curse. Scripture teaches that those who have faith shall live. Faith and law are at counter-purposes; justification comes from one or the other.
The curse reserved for the law observer has been assumed by Christ himself. Now the faith of Abraham may be extended to the nations. It is this faith that saves through the gift of the Spirit.
Paul worked tirelessly in promoting faith in Christ Jesus as the sole cause of salvation. To promote circumcision or any precept of the law was to detract from the saving work of Christ. And for Paul that was nothing short of blasphemy. Works in the Christian life proceed from faith; it is the justified person who works in charity. Works do not lead to faith or bring about justice.
The Gospel today reminds us that temptation still remains our lot. Our justification must be highly prized, which means that we must be on guard. The forces of evil still try to overtake us.
Points to Ponder
Paul and the faith of Abraham
The curse of the law
Dealing with evil
Intercessions
– That like Abraham, our Father in the faith, Christians may put themselves trustingly into God’s hands, we pray:
– That by the grace of God we may be good people who are a blessing to others, we pray:
– That our hearts may not be divided, but that we try to live sincerely the way of the gospel, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
our faith reassures us
that Jesus your Son,
already present in this community of faith,
will give himself to us in person
in these signs of bread and wine.
Strengthen our faith,
that we may sow and gather
on the side of your Son
and with him live in your love
now and for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, we thank you
for nourishing our hesitant faith
with the word of your Son
and with his bread of strength.
Engrave his message in our hearts
that it can never be erased
and keep us going without any need
of proofs and signs,
in the certainty that you love us
and that, even in trials and challenges,
you will lead us home to you
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
“Lord, make our faith grow!” That should be our cry from the heart. We ask the Lord for a deep faith that accepts him on his word and that lets his message and his person guide our lives. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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Saint John XXIII
Feast Day October 11
The twentieth century was an amazing century. Life changed dramatically during those years, mostly for the good. Diseases like polio and smallpox were conquered. People could travel across the world in a day on airplanes and communicate with each other in seconds on the Internet and the telephone.
But not everything was great in the twentieth century. It was a century filled with horrible wars that killed millions and with evil leaders—like Stalin in Russia, Mao in China, and Hitler in Germany—who slaughtered tens of millions of people, too. Technology brought us wonderful inventions that made life easier and more fun, but it also brought us weapons that could wipe out half the earth, if they were ever used.
With so much possibility for good and evil, the twentieth century was a time that needed good leaders who could look at the past, present, and future and make good, prudent decisions. Even the church needed leaders like that. Just when we needed it most, God gave us a gift: Pope John XXIII, who was pope for only a short time (1959 to 1963) but who had an amazing impact on the church and the entire world.
Of course, John XXIII was not the name he was born with. His parents named him Angelo—Angelo Roncalli, born in 1881 in the northern part of Italy. His family farmed for a living, and Angelo was the oldest boy of twelve brothers and sisters.
When he was a teenager, Angelo decided he wanted to be a priest. He studied in the seminary, where he was most interested in the history of the church. After he was ordained a priest, Angelo expected nothing more out of the rest of his life than that of a normal parish priest back in the part of Italy where he’d grown up. It was what he knew and what he thought God was calling him to. But very soon, it became clear that God had other plans for Angelo.
Over the course of his career, Fr. Angelo held many jobs, some exciting, some difficult. He was a secretary to a bishop for 10 years. He served as a medical worker in battlefields during World War I, and he never forgot the suffering he witnessed there. He represented the church in countries like Bulgaria and Turkey, countries where there were hardly any Catholics, and it was really important to understand and get along with people of different religions.
Finally, when he was 71 years old, Fr. Angelo Roncalli came home. He was appointed to be the leader of the church in the city of Venice, Italy. Fr. Angelo—now archbishop—had come home and, for all he knew, would spend the rest of his life simply tending to the needs of the people of Venice.
But once again, God had something else in mind. In 1958, Pope Pius XII died, and, as always happens when a pope dies, all the cardinals of the church gathered to elect a replacement. Much to everyone’s surprise, they elected Angelo Roncalli of Venice. He was seventy-six years old.
Now, you would think that a seventy-six-year-old man would know his place. You’d think he would settle into the Vatican, sit comfortably in his chair, and just hold the fort until God called him home and a younger, more energetic man could get things going.
Not quite. Angelo—who was now Pope John XXIII—had plenty of energy and plenty of ideas. The time for action was now. The Spirit was calling, and Pope John XXIII, thinking of the past, present, and future, was going to answer
First of all, John XXIII knew that times had changed, and it was time for popes to stop acting like royalty, which they had been doing for too many years. John was supposed to wear a big, jeweled tiara on his head. He wore it twice. When he went from place to place, he was supposed to sit in a special chair that would be hoisted up onto the shoulders of men who would then carry him. Even though John was a large man and being carried would have been easier than walking, he usually preferred to walk.
Reporters had to interview the previous pope while on their knees in front of him. John stopped that right away. He was the bishop of Rome, so he acted like it, going into the city of Rome and mingling with people. The very first Christmas he was pope, John visited two children’s hospitals in Rome, spending time with sick children, something that people could remember no other pope doing before.
John knew that the Spirit had called him to serve the people of God, not to act like a prince among them. But that wasn’t the only thing he knew had to change.
When John XXIII was elected pope, the world was a very different place than it had been even 200 years before. In the past, the church had a lot of power in the world. That wasn’t the case anymore. Nations had much more power than the church and were sometimes using that power to hurt people. John believed that the church needed to speak with a stronger voice so that it could protect all people from war, violence, and poverty.
Other things had changed, too. There were new ways of thinking about the world, ways that had nothing to do with religion or the Bible. Many people had come to believe that the advances of science made faith in God unnecessary. John saw much good in new scientific discoveries, but he also knew that without God we are lost. He wanted to help people who had faith learn how to talk to people who did not have faith in ways they could understand and in ways that would help everyone see the truth of God’s love.
In other words, what John XXIII wanted was to open the church up to the world so that the church could spread the good news of Jesus’ love in a way that made sense to people of the new century. It wasn’t the Middle Ages anymore. It was the twentieth century. John wanted the whole world to be able to hear the Good News in twentieth-century words.
John XXIII had a vision and hope. He made a decision based on that hope and based on the virtue of prudence, a virtue that he spoke of a great deal. John—whom today we call Saint John XXIII—believed that Jesus’ love was for everybody in the world.
He wanted the church to be a strong voice proclaiming that love in modern times to modern people. He looked to the past, present, and future in making his decision to lead the church in that direction.
When we make prudent decisions, that’s exactly what we have to do, too: We should think about the past, understand how our choice will affect us in the future, and listen to God’s voice in our hearts in the present.
Popes and kids—we’re all called to be prudent. We’re all called to be wise!
