Man Holding Basket, Duong Tri, Unsplash
15th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 8:18–23
July 12, 2020
No other letter of St Paul is read as much as Romans in the liturgy and no part of it as intently as Romans 8. As we saw last week, it answers the question:
Wretched man that I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death?
(Rom. 7:24–25)
Paul boldly told us that it was Jesus and him alone. He will rescue us not by a decree, but by joining his life to ours. We will live “in” his Spirit. Paul, ever the good Jew, believed that the human being had two inclinations: abandonment to God and reliance on material things. They did not play well together. He begins today with:
Consider that the sufferings of this present time
are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
(Rom. 8:18)
This is not only nor even principally a conflict with Rome or indeed with fellow Jews but a battle within us. Which inclination will guide us, will we choose God or the world?
It was a great insight of the Jews that this was not merely psychological or even sociological and political but cosmic in nature. Continue reading “15th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Harmony in the Kingdom of Heaven” →