Deacon Tom Writes
“For the Love of God, Surrender”
In writing to the Galatians, St. Paul expresses some
of the most challenging words of the New Testament. He says, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I
live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me”. These words are indicative of Paul’s
complete transformation from living a self-center life marked by personal
accomplishment, pursuit of his own individual desires, fulfilling his own sense
of well-being. His life has been forever changed because of his personal
encounter with and experience of Christ. He is not the same person he committed
to this intimate relationship with Christ. Paul has experienced an “ontological”
change… a change in his very being because he allowed Christ into the very
fiber of his life. How many of us can say the same thing?
Paul’s story is somewhat scary for us. If we have
any familiarity with Paul’s life, we know that he suffered much after his
conversion. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians he writes, “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I
was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the
deep”. And there was more! We know that he was also brought to trial and
put into prison because of his faith in Christ.
Over time, St. Paul surrendered more and more of
himself to Christ. Christ filled that void Paul created within himself by
sharing his own peace and joy with him. That’s the lesson that Paul gives us in
this reading from Galatians. God won’t come into our lives unless we make room
for him. God respects the choices we make in our lives. That’s part of the many
consequences of the gift of “Free Will”. If we choose to fill our lives with
desires for worldly things, if we are constantly on the go and living each day
with an acquisitive mindset trying to keep up with the Joneses, if we never
have a moment to “be still and know that
I am God, “ then we just may be missing out on the abundance available to us
from the spiritual realm; we may be missing the peace and joy that Christ has
in store for us when we give a little bit of ourselves over to him.
We can sense that reality in the woman in today’s gospel. Her sins are known to everyone, at least that is the impression we get from Simon’s musing. And yet, she has the courage to come to Jesus and in an act of pure humility to seek his favor, to ask to be set free from her past life. Again, like Paul’s, her story is one of a change of heart, the first step in our willingness to “live no longer I, but Christ lives in me”.
We can sense that reality in the woman in today’s gospel. Her sins are known to everyone, at least that is the impression we get from Simon’s musing. And yet, she has the courage to come to Jesus and in an act of pure humility to seek his favor, to ask to be set free from her past life. Again, like Paul’s, her story is one of a change of heart, the first step in our willingness to “live no longer I, but Christ lives in me”.
St. Augustine was aware of this simple truth eons
ago when he preached that our hearts would not rest until they rest in the Lord.
We have to discover this truth ourselves as did Paul and the unknown woman in the gospel. And, we will, by working
to put Christ at the center of our life and surrendering our will to his.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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