For these past two weeks, we have been hearing from Pauls’ letter to the Galatians. Today, in our reading from the 5th chapter of this letter, Paul talks about freedom, stating that a follower of Jesus will not find freedom from submitting themselves to the Mosaic law, but rather through Christ is how we experience freedom. Last week in our Search session that we have been meeting about in our adult faith formation groups, we spoke about the difference between people who identify themselves as purely spiritual and who do not want to be a member of an organized religion such as Catholicism. I think that the perceived lack of freedom in religion and the following of laws and commands are some of the things that a purely spiritual person would identify as the reason he would not belong to a religion. By starting with the Mosaic laws and prescriptions rather than a conversion in Christ, Paul feels that these members to the Way of Jesus are going backwards rather than going forward. The freedom that Christ calls us to if freedom from life rule purely by external observances, many of them of human origin. Paul feared that the legalistic approach to faith that was followed by the Pharisees would take over the Way of Jesus and would take on the greatest importance in faith in Christ as the basis of life. According to Paul, making the law our sole purpose in life is a kind of slavery. When we follow a faith that is strong and active that is based upon our relationship with Christ, we see how we are called to live out the love of God in our lives and to express care and compassion to our brothers and sisters. When we realize the freedom we have in Christ, then we are free to respond in love, compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation. Paul certainly gives us some advice that we can reflection upon today.
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