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| “The Holy Spirit“ by Corrado Giaquinto1750s |
(Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in
Ordinary Time)
Reading 1: Galatians 5:18-25
Brothers
and sisters:
If
you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now
the works of the flesh are obvious:
immorality,
impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery,
hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts
of fury, acts of selfishness,
dissensions,
factions, occasions of envy,
drinking
bouts, orgies, and the like.
I
warn you, as I warned you before,
that
those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God
In
contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience,
kindness, generosity,
faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.
Against
such there is no law.
Now
those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with
its passions and desires.
If
we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.
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Commentary on Gal 5:18-25
The
Apostle deals with a problem- he has evangelized gentile and Jew and now must
clarify Christian morality and spirituality.
There were some in Galatia St. Paul
He
contrasts “works of the flesh” with “fruit of the Spirit”, providing a catalogue of sins and of virtues. The evangelist gives the community a clear
warning that those who follow the flesh will not inherit the Kingdom of God
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (see Jn 8:12) Those who
follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Happy
those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked,
Nor
go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers
Rather,
the law of the LORD is their joy;
God's
law they study day and night.
R. Those who follow you,
Lord, will have the light of life.
They
are like a tree planted near streams of water,
that
yields its fruit in season;
Its
leaves never wither;
whatever
they do prospers
R. Those who follow you,
Lord, will have the light of life.
But
not the wicked!
They
are like chaff driven by the wind.
The
LORD watches over the way of the just,
but
the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
R. Those who follow you,
Lord, will have the light of life.
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Commentary on
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Psalm 1 serves as a preface to
the whole book of the psalms. The psalmist here exalts those who follow the
Lord’s commands and reflects upon the blessings they will receive. As in Romans 6:19ff, this selection
emphasizes the contrast between the salvation of the just and the punishment of
the wicked.
This wisdom psalm begins by
extolling the virtue of those who follow the law. The focus is to look to God
for guidance and not to trust only in the counsel of men. Those who reject the
law will be blown away like “chaff” an image used in the Gospel as well (Matthew 3:12).
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Gospel: Luke 11:42-46
The
Lord said:
“Woe
to you Pharisees!
You
pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but
you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
These
you should have done, without overlooking the others.
Woe
to you Pharisees!
You
love the seat of honor in synagogues
and
greetings in marketplaces.
Woe
to you!
You
are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.”
Then
one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
“Teacher,
by saying this you are insulting us too.”
And
he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You
impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but
you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
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Commentary on
Lk 11:42-46
In this passage
the Lord continues his criticism of those who believe that ritual practice is
more important than the spirit of God’s law. He points at their contributions
to the temple (“mint and of
rue” – the Pharisees paid
a tithe of not only their money but even down to insignificant herbs) and
their neglect of the needy as symbolic of this lack of understanding. In
teaching this type of faith, focused only on religious practice, they lead
others astray and in doing so they are doing the evil one’s work (“You are like unseen graves over which people
unknowingly walk” touching
human remains, according to Hebrew Law caused ritual impurity).
Likewise, when
questioned by the scholar of the law (probably referring to a scribe), the Lord
points at his questioner and says that those who focus only on the minutia of
Hebraic Law are missing its intent.
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Reflection:
“You have
been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do
the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah
6:8)
The Lord speaks to these
words from the Prophet Micah as he castigates the Pharisees and Scribes in St.
Luke’s Gospel. St. Paul
“You have
been told […] what is good, and what the Lord requires of you.” This simple
statement presumes that we, as Christians, have heard and understood what God
commands. It is a statement that will
constantly guide us because it requires that knowledge of what is good is
coupled with acting upon that knowledge.
Jesus provides us an example of what happens when knowledge is decoupled
from action. The Pharisees understood
that the Law of Moses required them to give the first fruits of their labors to
God (the Temple
We are fortunate that Christ
reveals God’s will in such a way. For
the Pharisees who had lost sight of the purpose of the Law, this attack on
their obsession was a declaration of war in their eyes. The Lord’s natural allies were turned against
him. For us this example serves as a
warning. We must never get so focused on
the details of our worship that we forget God’s greater purpose.
Today we reflect upon the
inspired words of the Prophet Micah, letting them inspire us to walk more
closely with our humble Savior, hearing the voice of God and doing only what is
right.
Pax
[2]
The picture is “The Holy Spirit“ by Corrado Giaquinto1750s
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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