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From: Galatians 3:1-5

Justification By Faith

[1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ
was publicly portrayed as crucified? [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive
the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish?
Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? [4] Did you ex-
perience so many things in vain? — if it really is in vain. [5] Does he who supplies
the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by
hearing with faith?

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Commentary:

1-14. It is his love for the Galatians, rather than indignation at their behavior, that
causes the Apostle to call them “foolish”. His love causes him suffering because
they have forgotten that only Jesus, and not the Law, brings salvation. The Gala-
tians should know very well that they received justification without even having
heard mention of the Law, for the Holy Spirit came upon them prior to the arrival
of the people from Jerusalem (vv. 1-5). All they have to do is remember the cha-
risms which they received — the “so many things”, the “miracles”, which are
manifestations of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12-14).

Besides, there is the example of Abraham (vv. 6-9; cf. Rom 4). The Lord pro-
mised him that his descendants would be blessed; he established a covenant
with him and justified him not by the works of the Law, which had not yet been
promulgated, but through his faith. In the same way, all who have believed and
who will in the future believe in God as Abraham did will be his true descendants
and will also receive God’s blessing.

Finally, the Mosaic Law, far from bringing salvation, is rather a cause of spiritual
death, insofar as every precept involves a penalty if it is not obeyed (vv. 10-14; cf.
Rom 7:7-12). Our Lord freed us from the curse of the Law by voluntarily taking on
himself the punishment merited by man’s sin (cf. Is 53:4; Mt 8:17; Rom 3:21-26;
5:6-10). By reverting and submitting to the Law they would in effect be saying
that our Redeemer’s sacrifice was unnecessary and ineffective.

1. St Paul boasted that he preached Christ crucified, even though he fully rea-
lized that it was a stumbling-block to Jews and folly to pagans (cf. 1 Cor 1:23).
The mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ was in fact the
very essence of the Apostles’ teaching (cf. Acts 2:22-24; 3:13-15; etc.), for it
was these mysteries that contained all hope of eternal life and salvation. That
is why Paul adds that, for believers, Christ crucified, far from being folly, is the
power of God and the wisdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 1:24).

Paul had probably described our Lord’s Sacrifice with such force and effect that
it had been deeply engraved in their memory — and now these Judaizers, these
deceivers, were hypnotizing the naive Galatians and causing them to lose sight
of Christ: they had switched their attention from Christ on the Cross to the ac-
tions of the interlopers.

St Paul’s warning is an invitation to fix one’s gaze once more on that sign which,
as it were, sums up all Christianity — the image of Christ on the Cross, which
ever since apostolic times presides over altars and altarpieces, and places of
work and leisure.

2-5. St Paul reminds the Galatians that in Baptism they received the Holy Spirit
and his gifts. Since their Baptism, and not prior to it, they had experienced the
action of the Spirit who, although he is in all ages a source of joy in the Church,
was even more evident in the apostolic age in which the Galatians were living.
So, how did this life of the Spirit reach the Galatians — through faith in Christ
and through Baptism, or through the works of the Law? The Apostle poses the
question without providing an answer, surely because it is obvious that it came
through Christ. The Mosaic Law played no part at all. How, then, can they be
so foolish as to change the Gospel which Paul had preached to them?

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 11:5-13

Effective Prayer

[5] And He (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), “Which of you who has a friend
will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; [6] for a
friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; [7]
and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my
children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’? [8] I tell you,
though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet be-
cause of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs. [9] And I
tell you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
will be opened to you. [10] For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. [11] What father among you, if
his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; [12] or if he asks
for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] If you then, who are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

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Commentary:

5-10. One of the essential features of prayer is trusting perseverance. By this
simple example and others like it (cf. Luke 18:1-7) our Lord encourages us not
to desist in asking God to hear us. “Persevere in prayer. Persevere even when
your efforts seem barren. Prayer is always fruitful” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”,
101).

9-10. Do you see the effectiveness of prayer when it is done properly? Are you
not convinced like me that, if we do not obtain what we ask God for, it is be-
cause we are not praying with faith, with a heart pure enough, with enough con-
fidence, or that we are not persevering in prayer the way we should? God has
never refused nor will ever refuse anything to those who ask for His graces in the
way they should. Prayer is the great recourse available to us to get out of sin, to
persevere in grace, to move God’s heart and to draw upon us all kinds of bles-
sing from Heaven, whether for the soul or to meet our temporal needs” (St. Jean-
Marie Vianney, “Selected Sermons”, Fifth Sunday after Easter).

11-13. Our Lord uses the example of human parenthood as a comparison to
stress again the wonderful fact that God is our Father, for God’s fatherhood is
the source of parenthood in Heaven and on earth (cf. Ephesians 3:15). “The God
of our faith is not a distant Being who contemplates indifferently the fate of men
— their desires, their struggles, their sufferings. He is a Father who loves His chil-
dren so much that He sends the Word, the Second Person of the Most Blessed
Trinity, so that by taking on the nature of man He may die to redeem us. He is
the loving Father who now leads us gently to Himself, through the action of the
Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, p.
84).

13. The Holy Spirit is God’s best gift to us, the great promise Christ gives His di-
sciples (cf. John 5:26), the divine fire which descends on the Apostles at Pente-
cost, filling them with fortitude and freedom to proclaim Christ’s message (Acts
2). “The profound reality which we see in the texts of Holy Scripture is not a re-
membrance from the past, from some golden age of the Church which has since
been buried in history. Despite the weaknesses and the sins of every one of us,
it is the reality of today’s Church and the Church in all times. ‘I will pray to the
Father,’ our Lord told His disciples, ‘and He will give you another Counsellor to
be with you for ever.’ Jesus has kept His promise. He has risen from the dead
and, in union with the eternal Father, He sends us the Holy Spirit to sanctify us
and to give us life” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 12).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.