Today first reading depicts a heavy hearted Saint Paul harshly redressing the Galatian community of Christians (Galatians 3:1-5). For years, Saint Paul had taught them and proclaimed the resurrection of Christ and the power of living in the Holy Spirit over customary Jewish law. Yet their struggle to move from the framework of their human understanding of the law to a real life in the Spirit is undermining Paul’s tireless efforts and confidence in the faith for “his children.”
Are you so stupid? After beginning with the (Holy) Spirit, are you now ending in the flesh? (…) Did you experience so many things in vain?—if indeed it was in vain.
This episode, like everything in Scripture, depicts the spiritual challenge of living a mature faith in daily life. Today Saint Paul’s indignation challenges the faith lived in a lukewarm way and casts light on the easiness of our religious conformism. But it also gives us strength to search and enter more deeply into a meaningful existence in Christ, fully attentive to the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Written by: Stefania (PA)
Come Holy Spirit…