Homily for Tuesday
28th Week of Ordinary Time
Oct. 15, 2024
Gal 5: 1-6
Christian Brothers, St.
Joseph Residence, N.R.
Christ has freed us and
means for us to remain free.
Paul tells his friends in
Galatia not to “submit again to the yoke of slavery” (5:1) and then goes on to
identify that yoke with circumcision and full observance of the Law of Moses.
He says elsewhere that the
Law is holy and good (Rom 7:12,16).
Observing the commandments, keeping the rules, is good.
But such observance has
its limits. It can become mechanical
rather than heartfelt, like the way the elder brother in the parable of the
prodigal obeyed his father (Luke 15:29-30) or like the attitude of those who
objected to Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath (e.g., Mark 3:1-6).
Further, Paul has noted
elsewhere, no one can possibly keep all the commandments of the Law perfectly. Everyone sins. If the Law is the way to life and we break
the Law, where does that leave us?
Dependent on divine
mercy! So Paul champions Jesus Christ,
who offers us grace, not Law. Jesus sets
us free from sin and from divine wrath undeservedly, and he means for us to
stay free. His forgiveness is eternal,
so often as we need it. God knows we
need it!
Jesus also sets us free to
love—not like that elder brother in the parable, who apparently didn’t love his
father but slavishly obeyed him. Jesus,
“working thru love” (Gal 5:6), sets us free to respond lovingly to his kindness
so that we, too, can work thru love. We
have faith that his love changes our hearts and, as Jesus himself says, draws
us to himself (John 12:32).
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