Called to a service of love without limits

June 27, 2004 -- 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Fr. Richard Ver Bust

	Fr. Richard Ver Bust

This Sunday and next, our second readings will be from Paul's Letter to the Galations. The letter is a powerful expression of Paul's thought. His personality shows with dramatic force.

Shortly after Paul's second visit to the Galatians church, he received news that certain people had visited the communities to preach what the apostle considered an ill conceived message.

They had insisted that the new converts had to follow all of the Jewish law. They had to obey the Mosaic regulations including circumcision, Jewish feasts, and dietary restrictions. They even challenged the authority of Paul and said he was not a real apostle.

The church in Galatia was in confusion. What was the right approach? What was demanded of the Christian converts?

Paul wrote this strong letter to insist on his rightful role as an apostle. The message of salvation that he had preached to them was authentic.

The letter expresses his disdain and his love. He calls the Galatians foolish but he also thinks of them as his children. He is so distraught that he does not follow the ordinary conventions of letter writing and jumps almost immediately into the problem.

Niceties are put aside and Paul expresses himself forcefully. He is not a person who will mince words.

For the first time in letters, Paul writes about the meaning of justification by faith. He insists that one is not saved by fulfilling a law but through the grace of God's love and our faith in Christ.

He points to the initial experience of the Galatians and insists what he originally preached to them was the authentic message of good news.

Our reading today is taken from the latter part of the letter. It presumes the theological exposition which has preceded it. We are hearing the exhortation and conclusions that Paul expresses based upon this message of justification through faith in Christ. In fact we might think of them as the practical conclusions that result from Paul's thought.

Paul is insistent in our reading that we have a wonderful freedom based upon our new relationship with Christ. This freedom is not a license to do anything we want but a freedom from the law and its burdens.

Paul realizes that freedom is a scary thing. It sometimes is hard to handle. Thus Paul says that we must live in accordance with the call of the Spirit. There are no minimal obligations then. We are called to a service of love that has no limits.

Paul contrasts life lived in this spirit of freedom and one which is lived as he calls it according to the flesh. Paul presents to us the notion that a Christian under the influence of the Spirit will have an interior guide who teaches us that the law is not enough.

(The late Fr. Ver Bust directed the master's program in theology at St. Norbert College, De Pere.)