Titus reminds us in today’s first reading, Titus 3: 1-7,
that God, through His kindness and generous love, bathe and renewed us in “the
Holy Spirit whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior. Prior
to his death and resurrection, Jesus
reminded the disciples that they would encounter a hostile world, that
witnessing to Jesus, proclaiming and living the Gospel, leaving a life of sin, could
lead to persecution, rejection and, in some cases, to death (cf John 16: 18-27).
“I did not tell you this from the outset, because I was with you; but now I am
going to the one who sent me….[I]t is for your own good that I am going because
unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I do go, I will send him
to you (John 16: 5-8).
The outpouring of the Spirit, our being bathe and renewed in
the Spirit, continues to this very
day. Day in and day out God, true to His
promise never to leave us, sends the Spirit to guide us in all that we do, to,
in the words of Titus, “open [us] to every good enterprise,” to give us the grace
to exercise “graciousness toward everyone.” Day in and day out, persons who,
like ourselves, “were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various
desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful…[toward] themselves
and hating…[others], are drawn to Christ and come to realize that they are “justified
by his grace and, [through God’s generosity and kindness, have] become heirs in
hope of eternal life.”
How deeply to I realize the graciousness of God, the mercy
of God, the generosity of God? There is
absolutely nothing I do that earns me the gift of justification, the heritage
of eternal life.
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