Daily Retreat 10/14/08
2008 Oct 14 Tue: Ordinary Weekday
Gal 5: 1-6/ Ps 118(119): 41. 43. 44. 45. 47. 48/ Lk 11: 37-41
From today’s readings: “ For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness.... Let Your mercy come to me, O Lord.... Give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.”
Faith working through Love
St. Paul is certainly the greatest theologian to expound on the profound nature of faith in Christ Jesus. Now when we try to appreciate a certain artist’s use of color, we need to consider how he used color in ALL of his works - it would be a hasty conclusion to suppose that we could draw valid conclusions about his use of color from just one painting, or just one part of a certain work.
Similarly, to grasp St. Paul’s teaching on faith, we need to reflect on his teachings on faith in all his letters. Many hasty and superficial conclusions about faith have been based on just one or two verses in Paul’s letters. Such errors can be avoided only by carefully considering, not just all of Paul’s writings, but rather, the full deposit of faith!
So today’s reading concludes, “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” This is an essential insight about faith, but even so, not yet the full insight. There’s much more to faith than can be summed up in a short virtual retreat reflection!
Gal 5: 1-6/ Ps 118(119): 41. 43. 44. 45. 47. 48/ Lk 11: 37-41
From today’s readings: “ For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness.... Let Your mercy come to me, O Lord.... Give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.”
Faith working through Love
St. Paul is certainly the greatest theologian to expound on the profound nature of faith in Christ Jesus. Now when we try to appreciate a certain artist’s use of color, we need to consider how he used color in ALL of his works - it would be a hasty conclusion to suppose that we could draw valid conclusions about his use of color from just one painting, or just one part of a certain work.
Similarly, to grasp St. Paul’s teaching on faith, we need to reflect on his teachings on faith in all his letters. Many hasty and superficial conclusions about faith have been based on just one or two verses in Paul’s letters. Such errors can be avoided only by carefully considering, not just all of Paul’s writings, but rather, the full deposit of faith!
So today’s reading concludes, “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” This is an essential insight about faith, but even so, not yet the full insight. There’s much more to faith than can be summed up in a short virtual retreat reflection!
posted by FrPitstick | 10/10/2008
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