Friday, June 27, 2008

Gal 4, 12-17 I originally preached the gospel to you

(Gal 4, 12-17) I originally preached the gospel to you
[12] I implore you, brothers, be as I am, because I have also become as you are. You did me no wrong; [13] you know that it was because of a physical illness that I originally preached the gospel to you, [14] and you did not show disdain or contempt because of the trial caused you by my physical condition, but rather you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. [15] Where now is that blessedness of yours? Indeed, I can testify to you that, if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. [16] So now have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? [17] They show interest in you, but not in a good way; they want to isolate you, so that you may show interest in them.
(CCC 1695) "Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (2 Cor 6:11), "sanctified … (and) called to be saints" (1 Cor 1:2), Christians have become the temple of the Holy Spirit (Cf. 1 Cor 6:19). This "Spirit of the Son" teaches them to pray to the Father (Cf. Gal 4:6) and, having become their life, prompts them to act so as to bear "the fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22, 25) by charity in action. Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us interiorly through a spiritual transformation (Cf. Eph 4:23). He enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of light" through "all that is good and right and true" (Eph 5:8, 9). (CCC 2766) But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically (Cf. Mt 6:7; 1 Kings 18:26-29). As in every vocal prayer, it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer; at the same time he gives us the Spirit by whom these words become in us "spirit and life" (Jn 6:63). Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father "sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Gal 4:6). Since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, "he who searches the hearts of men," who "knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom 8:27). The prayer to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious mission of the Son and of the Spirit. (CCC 2767) This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. The first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer three times a day (cf. Didache 8, 3), in place of the "Eighteen Benedictions" customary in Jewish piety.

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