God's Mercy

In today's first reading, Galatians 3: 7-14, St. Paul reminds us that "no one is justified before God by the law."   Only our faith in Christ Jesus justifies us.  "[T]he one who is righteous by faith will live,"   Paul tells us. "But the law does not depend on faith... Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,  for it is written, Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessings (the gift of faith) of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Thank God for the gift of faith, especially on days when our behaviors would be condemned by the law.  God does not condemn; no, God saves! Christ has ransomed you and me from the curse of the law "by becoming a curse" and gives us the grace to forgive those who "curse" us and, yes, defends us from ourselves when we want to stand in judgment of self!

With the psalmist, in today's responsorial psalm, let us  pray:

"Majesty and glory are [God's] work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the Lord." 

Chosen and Appointed by God Himself to Do Great Things

Today is the feast of St. Matthias. He was chosen by lot to replace Judas and to join the other eleven apostles to be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.  You and I, also, have been chosen to be witnesses to Jesus’ triumph over death.  We were chosen, not by lot, but directly by Jesus. He says to us in today’s Gospel:  “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (Jn 15:6).

 Envision Jesus making this choice! It is you and I He is choosing! It is you and I whom He is appointing to assume the mission of bearing fruit that will never rotten, never disintegrate, never die!  What kind of fruit does not ever deteriorate and turn to rot but blooms into eternal life? The answer, obviously, is love.  The same Spirit whereby Jesus rose from the death is the same  Spirit Who empowers us to love in the face of hatred, to work for peace in the face of violence, to work toward forgiveness and reconciliation in the face of injustices and hurts we endure in this life. “That’s impossible,” you might argue. However,  Jesus returned to heaven, to His Father, in order to send to us the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit at work in us Who enables to do even greater things than Jesus did during his short 33 years here on this earth.  Jesus Himself makes that promise in John 14: 12-14: “In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works,  because I am going to the Father….I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth….[H]e is with you, he is in you” (Jn 14: 12-13, 15-17).

And you and I, from conception , have been chosen to receive the Paraclete, to be a witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, by the works we do—“even greater works” than Jesus did here on earth! Do we believe this truth? Do we believe Jesus? Or do our mediocre, apathetic lives proclaim our unbelief?