Homily

Sunday, August 17, 2008, 14th Sunday after Pentecost on the Tridentine Liturgical Calendar
Assumption Grotto Parish, Detroit

The Old and the New

            We are coming off of the fervor of the solemnity of the Assumption, the feast of our parish’s namesake, and the mutual love between us and the Blessed Virgin is now only stronger. And so, strengthened by her intercession and example, we turn to the regular, ordinary work of our spiritual lives, caring for the spiritual seed which has been sewn within.

            In this work we turn away from the old life of sin, and turn to the new life of grace in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. What more fit book of scripture, then, could we turn to than Galatians, where St. Paul perfectly profiles the passing of the old and the coming of the new? And how could anything be more appropriate than studying St. Paul, in this Holy Year dedicated to him?

            In this Epistle, St. Paul had to deal with the problem of those who had disturbed the early community in Galatia. Some Jews had come among them saying they had to fulfill the law of Moses, in addition to living their new lives as Catholics, and they caused great confusion. The confusers have come down to us through history with the name “Judaizers.”

            So St. Paul, in Galatians, says that the new life in Christ overcomes the old; and this “old life” can be considered “old” in four ways:(1) the oldness of error, the oldness of figures which foretold Christ, the oldness of guilt, and the oldness of punishment. In Isaiah God promised, “Behold I will create a new heaven and a new earth” (Is 66:22); and in the Apocalypse St. John reports, “He that sat on the throne said: Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).

            In today’s verses, selected from Chapter 5, St. Paul provides a profile of two types of life. This reminds us of that ancient writing, the Teaching of the Apostles, or the Didache, whose opening lines (1:1) run, “There are two ways: the one of death, and one of death; yet great is the difference between the two ways.” And so we deal hear less with the specifically Jewish question, which St. Paul already refuted: no, we do not have to fulfill the Old Law, for Jesus did that, and gave us a new covenant, that of faith, and not of works of the Mosaic Law. We deal less with the negation of the old life, and more with the affirmation of the new life. What does the new life in Christ look like?

            In a word, it looks like life in the Holy Spirit. Yet evidence accuses us of not living according to the Spirit, as St. Paul puts it, “[the spirit and the flesh] are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you would.” The Holy Spirit leads man to live according to his spirit, enlightened by Christ, and not according to the senses of the body. St. Paul does not say the body is intrinsically evil; rather slavery to creatures which we experience through the senses.

            And so all of us contend with the battle between sin and grace, between love of creatures and the love of God, between the contempt of creatures and the contempt of God.

            We look around us, and what do we see? We see that St. Paul’s description of the life of sin is more or less the popular standard of our day. Fornication and impurity reign in the media, and heaven forbid anyone speak out against the disordered lifestyle of active homosexuals. Witchcraft has been made popular by everything from Harry Potter to a long list of movies and television programs which exalt the occult and deny the objective moral order. Wraths and quarrels and dissentions arise even in the midst of the mystical body of Christ, wherein brutality and calumny are permitted by souls who claim to be close to God but are very far from him. People today think it’s funny to get drunk, and addiction to alcohol and drugs flourishes; and let no one draw any moral judgments about such matters, we couldn’t have that now! And so pride defends sensuality, and both are justified by greed: such is the way of the flesh. But all flesh must perish.

            St. Paul points all this out, as a true prophet; for a prophet tells the people their sins. Yet the Psalm says, “[God] himself will redeem Israel from all their sins” (Ps 130:8), and sin is not the last word upon man. When we get used to our sins, the Word of God wakes us up, snaps us out of the spell, and encourages us to renounce our sins and call to God for forgiveness and help.

            That help is manifold; and the greatest Helps God send us is, well, Himself. He comes to us truly in the Eucharist, and by Confirmation the Holy Spirit we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is God. St. Paul describes the life of the one who is renewed by the spirit, when he says, “Charity, joy, peace patience, kindness,” and the rest. We call these the “fruits” of the Holy Spirit.

            If we live in the Holy Spirit, we should be led by Him. We are not lead by the Law, but by the Holy Spirit. Against charity, joy, peace, patience and all the other fruits, therefore, there is no Law. The Law exists to condemn, and condemn it does; the Spirit exists to give life in abundance, and save the sinner who humbly repents.

            Let us then each day examine ourselves, and see whether, as St. Paul the Apostle teaches, we are living according to the flesh, or according to the spirit. Some half-heartedly say they wish to live according to the spirit, but they are not ready yet to crucify the works of the flesh. So St. Paul gives us a remedy: “They who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 1:24). Living a crucified life is the way to charity; the cross it the way to joy; the cross is the road to peace, patience, endurance and chastity.

Take up your cross, then, brave soul, in the little way of your daily life. No little sacrifice of love escapes God’s notice. And if you find it difficult, turn to your Heavenly Mother, the Blessed Virgin, and she will obtain for you all you need, so that you can live the new life according to the spirit, and crucify the old life according to the flesh. Amen.