FOCUSSING OUR GAZE ON THE GROOM


THURSDAY, TWENTY SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Gal 3:1-5; Lk 1:69-75; Lk 11:5-13

The Path to Union with Jesus Christ

St. Paul comes to the main reason for writing the Galatian community in today’s passage; he wrote to condemn their attempt to find justification through obedience to the Law and circumcision. The Galatian community opened their door and ears to the circumcision party who put the Law of Moses over the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This group of adherents of Judaism converted to Christianity but still had their hearts in Judaism. Their love for the tradition of their fathers became a stumbling block to their salvation in Jesus Christ. This danger always abounds with converts to Christianity. Many in our churches have their hearts fixed on traditional religion and practices while paying lip service to Christianity. It would be impossible to attain union with the Lord without a clean break from our former religion. The journey into the mystery of Jesus Christ requires a complete and total dedication of our minds and hearts to Jesus to overcome the hurdles on the way. Because of this demand of the Gospel, Paul places a curse on any who preaches a different gospel to the Christian community. What makes such a gospel different, though preached in the guise of the Gospel, is the emphasis on the works of men rather than on Jesus Christ and the salvific work he accomplished for us. By such a de-emphasis on Jesus Christ, the bride of Christ is left in danger of losing sight of Christ.

The nature of the damage caused by false doctrine made Paul use harsh language in writing to the Christian community in Galatia. “Are you people in Galatia mad? Has someone put a spell on you, in spite of the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Let me ask you one question: was it because you practised the Law that you received the Spirit, or because you believed what was preached to you?” These are harsh words, but they point to the seriousness of the danger the community placed itself in by listening and accepting the false teaching from the Judaizers. To profess faith in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is to agree to die to self and subsequently live for him who died for us. This faith is what defines the bride of Christ and nothing else. As Paul emphasised, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts based on this profession of faith in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. If the Spirit is in us, we must henceforth draw life from the Spirit and live in communion with him. Spirit is the enablement we receive from the Father, taking us to the marriage of the Lamb. Hence, the presence of the Holy Spirit characterises the Church as communion and the Bride of Jesus Christ. To cease listening to the Holy Spirit is to stop attending to the Bridegroom.

The attention of the Galatian community to the Law for justification shows they have turned their gazes away from Jesus Christ, the heavenly Groom. “Are you foolish enough to end in outward observances what you began in the Spirit?” The enemies will never cease to tempt and deceive unwary souls away from the way to eternal life. We must be vigilant and prayerful always. Thus, we have posited prayer as the vital activity of a Christian soul in union with the Holy Spirit. Our prayer must be our life activity; it must be fervent, frequent, and persistent. These define the hunger of a bride for her Groom. Our Lord assures us of union with him in the Gospel. “So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.” Mystical union is equivalent to martyrdom, for the bride must desire the Groom with all her mind, heart, and strength. The Father demonstrates his willingness to unite us with his Son in his gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us then follow the Holy Spirit to a mystical union with Christ.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to turn our hearts away from everything that is not Christ and does not lead to him, that meditating and contemplating the love he has for us, which made him die on the Cross for us, we may give everything we possess to come to mystical union with Jesus Christ our Lord.

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