VISIBLE SHIFT IN THE WAY WE LIVE
If there is not a visible
shift in the way we live, whatever life we have will be taken from us. Let us
live according to the Spirit!
Today's Responsorial Psalm
brings all the readings together very well. We acclaim, "Lord, this is the
people that longs to see Your face" (Ps 24:6). It is the supreme gift of
personal intimacy, a miracle of closeness, the thrill of friendship and the
consecration of unity. May we open wide the doors and allow the Holy One to
come in! Let us pray: Teach us, Jesus, how to follow Your instruction. Teach
us, how to combine intimacy with reverence, friendship with worship, and
closeness with awe. Teach us how to lift our heads and open our hearts as we
bend our knees. Teach us never to lose sight of Your majesty. And finally,
teach us Your Incarnation. For You are the King of Glory! What a great prayer
for us!
We know that we are living
according to the Spirit when we accept the saving grace of God, our Father.
Those of us who live in and by the Spirit are characterized as having life and
peace. The law cannot provide what the Spirit can. Therefore, St. Paul
encourages his followers to live according to the Spirit that is in them and
not to back slide and embrace the way of the flesh once again.
In Paul's Letter to the
Romans, we are able to hear how closely connected St. Paul's teaching is to
that of Jesus Christ. Both emphasize the need to live constantly and
deliberately according to the dictates of God. If we continue to live
"according to the flesh," to use St. Paul's term, the end will be
disastrous. Jesus also warns us, as His followers, that if there is not a
visible shift in the way we live, whatever life we have will be taken from us.
Let us live according to the
Spirit!