Boating

I went for my first ride on our new boat this afternoon.  Going as slow as I could I spent about an hour just gliding along enjoying the clear, sunny day.

Beauty will save the world.

Calling

Tree blossoms that will be miniature tangerines.  Beautiful scent at my back door.

Jesus says, "The harvest is rich but the laborers are few; so ask the Lord of the harvest to send  laborers to do his harvesting (Luke10:2.)  Whenever I pray for vocations to the priesthood, I also pray that church leaders will change the requirements for priesthood.  I can't help thinking that God may be calling women and married men.

Boasting

A ring side seat for the destruction of a neighbor's property.  In  the middle distance you can see a large white sundial.  Beside it is a granite cube containing the remains of the original owner.

Anything we leave behind to the world is not our doing.  Our boast is that everything that we are and have and do is the result of God's goodness working within us.  At the end of St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians (6:14-17) he alludes to the scars he bears from all that he has suffered in spreading the Gospel.  Even these are not to his credit.  His boast is the new life that Christ has won for us by the Cross and Resurrection.

The Law of Christ

The law of Christ is love. Because he has insisted that we are free from the Law, St. Paul warns us not  to confuse freedom with self-indulgence (Galatians 5:13-26.)  Christ shares with us his freedom as well as his way of loving.

Freedom in Christ

Have a splendid summer solstice! This morning's sun lighting my way.

"When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free." (Galatians 5:1)  One of St. Paul's purposes in writing this letter is to assure the Galatians that they are free from obeying the Jewish Law.  We are saved simply by faith in Jesus.  Knowing that we cannot earn God's love by obeying laws of any kind brings with it a sense of freedom that lifts our hearts.

Terror and Hate

Mourning the victims in Orlando, E.J. Dionne said,
"We set ourselves back by responding to an act of violence against Americans who are gay by turning on Americans who are Muslim."

May they rest in peace and may God deliver us from prejudice and hate.

All One

"

I am enjoying using St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians for scripture meditation.  As I reflected early in the week on this coming Sunday's selection (3:26-29,) I was drawn to Paul's statement that we are "all one in Christ Jesus."  Paul has been writing that Jesus has done away with all divisions.  "There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free person, neither male nor female."  After the horror in Florida I am moved to add, "neither gay nor straight, neither Moslem nor Christian.  All are one." 

Within

I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.

This verse from next Sunday's 2nd Reading, St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians (2:20),  has had a profound influence on my life since my days in the seminary.

I am on retreat all week with five other priests.  Please pray that we will be open to whatever God wants to do with us.

Non-Jews Welcome

Summer morning from the side deck.

To reinforce his claim to be preaching an orthodox Gospel, St Paul tells the Galatians that he went to Jerusalem and met with the recognized leaders: James, Peter, and John.  They agreed that non-Jews did not have to become Jews to become followers of Christ.  They sent Paul to areas that were predominantly Greek and Peter to areas that were predominantly Jewish.

Christianity is now the largest religion in the world.  This would not have been the case if they had remained a reform movement within Judaism.

Gospel Revealed

"June is busting out all over!"

I didn't pay a lot of attention to St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians (except for one verse).  I thought of it as a rehearsal for his great Letter to the Romans.  One distinct feature of Galatians, however, is Paul's defending his authenticity as an apostle.  He says that the Gospel he preaches "came to me through a revelation of Jesus Christ."