These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
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 blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:7-14)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101124.cfm
He became a curse for us. As the Church has always proclaimed: “He died for all!” And as the old hymn invites us to sing, “What Wondrous Love is This!”
And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Lk 11:5-13)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101024.cfm
Sometimes folks just need permission—well, spiritually, the Lord gives us permission to ask, to seek and to knock. If we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more our heavenly Father will give us the Holy Spirit if we ask.
And when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. I said to Cephas in front of all, "If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Gal 2:1-2, 7-14)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100924.cfm
In Paul’s famous confrontation with Peter, what exactly is the issue? The issue, of course, is the Gentiles (the non-Jewish converts). And of course, James in Jerusalem is stirring the pot in Antioquia. And as Paul points out, Peter is a hypocrite. Why would the kosher laws be an issue for the early church? Well, when eating with Gentiles becomes the problem, the Eucharist itself, sharing the meal that Jesus gave us, the unity of the community itself, is at risk.
You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” So they glorified God because of me. (Gal 1:13-24)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100824.cfm
As Oscar Wilde once observed, “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Saint Paul recounts his past to the Galatians to remind them that there is hope for us yet, that everyone has a future, that there is nothing in our past that God can’t use to spread the Kingdom.
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. (Lk 10:25-37)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100724.cfm
The Parable of the Good Samaritan calls us to put aside the maps we use to define friends and enemies and invites us to live in freedom, to live with the values of the Kingdom of God, to live as instruments of mercy and compassion. We are grateful for all the relief workers and all those who have volunteered to help others in the crisis of Hurricane Helene. We ask the prayers of the Mother of God that we all might be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
