Homily for Thursday
28th Week of Ordinary Time
Oct. 19, 2023
Rom 3: 21-30
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence,
N.R.
“A person is justified by faith apart from
works of the Law” (Rom 3: 28).
In Paul’s writings, justice or
righteousness means being in a right relationship with God, being in God’s
grace. Paul insists that such a
relationship isn’t the result of our doing good works, of our own virtuous
lives. No one can observe God’s Law
flawlessly—not all the detailed rules of the Torah, not even the most basic
moral code of loving God with all one’s being and always loving one’s neighbor.
Paul insists that we must be made just or made holy not by our own efforts but as a gift from God: “justified freely by his grace thru the redemption in Christ Jesus” (3:24). Christ alone forgives our sins, all our violations of God’s laws. Our attachment to Christ by faith renders us righteous or holy. The work is his work. Only in him can we boast (cf. 3:27)—of being pardoned undeservedly and justified by his grace.
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