10 October 2018
Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
From today’s strong-worded letter to the Galatians, a reading that relates St. Paul’s disagreement with Cephas’ way of proceeding in Antioch, we go to the peace that is found in the gospel. Jesus had been praying when one of his disciples asks that he teach them how to pray. From the mouth of Jesus flow the words of the prayer we know so well, the Our Father.
We cannot know the details of Paul’s confrontation of Cephas. How did Cephas respond to Paul’s correction? Did it lead to a heated argument between them? What we can know is that if they took Jesus at his word, which they did, they would remember that they both share the same Father and that they were called to “forgive everyone in debt” to them. Our common Father and our call to forgiveness and reconciliation is what has kept our Church united through the centuries. May we continue taking Jesus at his word when we pray the Our Father.