8 October 2020
Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
There’s no real way around it: St. Paul was ticked off when he wrote to the churches in Galatia. A look at our first reading may at first make us wonder if St. Paul had forgotten our Lord’s warning in Matthew 5:22, “whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.” Here a little Greek is helpful. Term ‘fool’ in the sermon on the Mount would be spoken only in a way to deride others, to express one’s anger as a way to sever a relationship: the very opposite of the reconciliation Christ comes to effect in our lives. In the letter to the Galatians, St. Paul calls them “lacking in understanding” anoetoi, from the noun nous meaning ‘mind’ or ‘understanding’. St. Paul has not forgotten the Christian prohibition against wrath. Rather, he is calling the Galatian to task because they have forgotten the care of Christ crucified, who supplies the Spirit to them and who works mighty deeds among them. (Gal 3:1 and 5) In their lack of understanding that Christ cares for them, they have turned elsewhere for care, but in vain.
When we turn to empty pseudo-sources of care, Jesus in the Gospel gently calls us back. He tells us that we are to ask for all we need from the Father. God is the One who loves us far more than any earthly father. If we but ask, he will open our hearts to the gift of the living bread that is Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us not be forgetful, or lacking in understanding. Let us turn to Christ crucified and in Him find the worthy resting place of all our reliance and trust, and receive all that the Lord wants to give us, even His very self.