Year II

28th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul greets the believers at Ephesus by reminding them that the have been chosen by God the Father for something wonderful and special even before their creation or the creation of the world. In cinema, television, and literature there is usually something special associated with being the “chosen one”: some great destiny, often some great responsibility. The Lord is calling us to both. God the Father calls us to be adopted in his Son, become his children, and one day stand in his presence “holy and without blemish”: holiness means we will participate in his divine life, and without blemish means that no matter what we’ve done, Our Father will forgive us, heal us, and cleanse us if we let him.

The “chosen one” in popular culture usually has to go it alone, yet we don’t have to. Our Lord has come to ensure that we live up to the wonderful calling we’ve received from God the Father, just as he has in his Incarnation. Being chosen does involve some work on our part, and if we don’t accept that we might not live up to everything God the Father wants of us, and that will rob us of a lot of happiness from here to eternity. In Christ we’re guaranteed a happy ending to our life, no matter how rocky it might get.

You’ve been chosen. Ask Our Lord to guide you to the wonderful destiny that has awaited you since before the foundation of the world.

Readings: Ephesians 1:1–10; Psalm 98:1–6; Luke 11:47–54. See also 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday.

28th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul presents two lists that contrast the way in which we can live. One, where our baser passions are simply given free reign until they achieve their destructive logical conclusions, are the works of the flesh. It should sober us that many of the things Paul mentions in the list of works of the flesh are glamorized today, even admired. It’s no coincidence that at baptism we promise to reject the glamour of evil: indulging the flesh can be very attractive, but how many mornings after does it fill us with regret?

Not all passions are base or destructive, and a life guided by the Spirit helps us build on the better and nobler ones. If we consider the fruits of the Spirit we see an ideal that is worthy of admiration, something to which we can aspire in order to be a good friend or seek in order to find a good friend. The crucifixion we have to undergo is a process of deadening ourselves to the passions that would lead us to the works of the flesh. We’ll never completely deaden temptation in our earthly life, but we can reject it and the Spirit will help us.

Do a prayerful examination regarding both lists in today’s First Reading and ask the Spirit to help you start working toward the right one.

Readings: Galatians 5:18–25; Psalm 1:1–4, 6; Luke 11:42–46. See also 2nd Week of Lent, Tuesday; 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday; 21st Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday and Wednesday;  20th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday; and 9th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

28th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year II

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Even today newborn Jewish males are initiated into their faith not just through their lineage, but through a ceremony of circumcision. Because of this ancient Jewish practice those who wanted to practice Judaism, even as adults, were required in Paul’s time to be circumcised. Paul is warning the Galatians in today’s First Reading that if they decide to embrace Jewish practices they are turning their backs on who’ll really benefit them spiritually: Our Lord.

Even today people sometimes choose to mix and match religion. Commitment is a foundation for belief. With circumcision the Galatians are committing to something other than Christianity, and by doing so, as Paul warns them, they are shutting themselves out of Christ’s life if they choose to do so.

Mix and match religion just leads us in circles. Let’s commit ourselves to Christ and the path he invites us to follow.

Readings: Galatians 5:1–6;  Psalm 119:41, 43–45, 47–48; Luke 11:37–41. See also 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday.

27th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, Year II

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Today’s Gospel touches on the theme Paul has been developing in the First Readings of this past week: it’s not lineage that puts us in God’s good graces, but faith. That woman in the crowd considers Mary blessed because she is the mother of Christ, but Our Lord knows that the true source of Mary’s blessings is that she has done God’s will, and has done so from the Annuciation to the Assumption and beyond.

The Lord knew that after the Fall humanity would not be able to recover all at once, which is why he gradually prepared them to receive the Gospel in the flesh, his Son. The people of Israel and the Law were means to that end. Humanity had to be helped to achieve a certain spiritual maturity before it could go beyond the Law, which was like someone helping it stay steady as it worked out how to restore the spiritual balance in life.

The “disciplinarian” Paul mentions in today’s First Reading was a mentor in charge of a child’s formation and education in the ancient world. He was like that hand on the back of the bike when you were learning to ride, and some day, perhaps even unperceived, he’d take his hand off the bike and you’d ride alone for the first time and then forever after. When the child grew up the disciplinarian was no longer needed, because he’d been taught how to ride the bike. The laws of balance and gravity would still bring a fall if they weren’t heeded, but now the adult could ride on his own.

A rich life of faith is the same. We are helped to achieve spiritual maturity and then Our Lord lets us roll. That requires faith that if he takes his hand off the bike it is because we are ready. It doesn’t mean we ignore his will, just that we don’t need as much direct help in following it. This is not just a question of physical age: the Galatians were risking immaturity because they were clinging to the Law and losing sight of the Lawgiver. Christian life is a liberation. Ask Our Lord to help you find your balance.

Readings: Galatians 3:22–29; Psalm 105:2–7; Luke 11:27–28. See also 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

27th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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Even the Jews of Paul’s time recognized that people who did not have a Jewish heritage were attracted to their religion, but they didn’t understand it exactly to mean that the blessings the Lord promised to Abraham were meant for more than the people of Israel. Some who “converted” to Judaism in Paul’s time would always be a second-class citizen because they were not blood descendants of Abraham. Paul refers to the blessings promised to and through Abraham in today’s First Reading and explains that to become a descendant of Abraham in the salvific sense all you needed was faith, not lineage.

Abraham was reckoned as righteous because of his faith, not because of his lineage. In the liturgy we refer Abraham as “our father in faith” for this very reason. Paul today is encouraging the Galatians to not treat themselves like second-class citizens. Through their faith in Christ they, and we, connect to that lineage of faith that brings salvation. The “law” to which Paul refers is religious practice done without faith in Christ, as we considered yesterday. Without the grace won by Christ the Jews were not able to persevere in their religious practices, and neither would we.

Our faith will help us weather anything, of we let it. Let’s ask Our Lord to help us grow in faith and stay a part of Abraham’s lineage of faith.

Readings: Galatians 3:7–14; Psalm 111:1b–6; Luke 11:15–26. See also 3rd Week of Lent, Thursday and 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.