We have been hearing passages from Paul’s letter to the Galatians in the first readings in the daily masses these past several days. We can all get impatient, frustrated, and upset about things, but St Paul seems to have been having a particularly bad day by the way he begins today’s passage: “O stupid Galatians!” St Paul is upset at the way the Galatians have been forsaking their faith. They are still relying on their human works and their human efforts rather than placing their trust in God. There are some times when we Catholics in the South can be accused by our brothers and sisters in the Evangelical Christian denominations, claiming that we rely on our good works and our own efforts in order to achieve our salvation in our faith. Yet, that is definitely a misinterpretation of what we Catholics believe. Our good works are to be a fruit of our faith and a fruit of our life of discipleship, from the salvation we receive through Christ as a freely given gift. Perhaps St Paul was trying to shake the Galatians out of their complacency and out their wanderings away from the one true faith. We can stray from the faith at times ourselves, but the Lord asks us to repent and to return to him with all our hearts.
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