The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the nature of the prompts and nudges that precede our actions towards others.
Nudges to our spirit
In the reading from the Letter to the Galatians, Paul urges us to “receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
* [3:1–14] Paul’s contention that justification comes not through the law or the works of the law but by faith in Christ and in his death (Gal 2:16, 21) is supported by appeals to Christian experience (Gal 3:1–5) and to scripture (Gal 3:6–14). The gift of God’s Spirit to the Galatians came from the gospel received in faith, not from doing what the law enjoins. The story of Abraham shows that faith in God brings righteousness (Gal 3:6; Gn 15:6). The promise to Abraham (Gal 3:8; Gn 12:3) extends to the Gentiles (Gal 3:14).1
Psalm 111 is praise for God’s wonderful works.
* [Psalm 111] A Temple singer (Ps 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel’s history (Ps 111:2–10). The deeds reveal God’s very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus warns us to be aware of the return of the unclean spirit.
* [11:19] Your own people: the Greek reads “your sons.” Other Jewish exorcists (see Acts 19:13–20), who recognize that the power of God is active in the exorcism, would themselves convict the accusers of Jesus. See also note on Mt 12:27.3
Andy Alexander, S.J. comments that we simply must face a conversion in our religious culture and learn to stop demonizing others, and somehow calling it "religious."
We can become so zealous sometimes that we sacrifice the heart of it all. We can become a terrible distortion of what it is to be a follower of Jesus. He came to heal and not to condemn. He came to free, rather than to further bind with caricature and mockery. He came to rescue us sinners and to heal our wounds and to set our hearts free to love. He came to build community among us by sending us his own Spirit - the community binder. He came to set our hearts on fire with gratitude and a love like his - self-forgetful and self-sacrificing. He came not that people might say, "See how they shove one another," but that we might be a witness of love. "I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34f) Our goal is that people will say, "See how they love one another."4
Don Schwager asks “What is the point of Jesus' grim story about a vacant house being occupied by an evil force?”
It is not enough to banish evil thoughts and habits from our lives. We must also fill the void with God who is the source of all that is good, wholesome, true, and life-giving for us. Augustine of Hippo said that our lives have a God-shaped void which only God can fill. If we attempt to leave it vacant or to fill it with something else which is not of God, we will end up being in a worse state in the end.5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Galatians 3:7-14 notes that Paul wanted the Galatians to accept God’s unconditional love for them. He wanted them to understand that God’s love is not based on circumcision, moral perfection, or any other requirements. God just loves us, and he asks us to respond by putting our faith in him.
Imagine the freedom and relief we could all feel if we were convinced that we didn’t need to win God over. We don’t need to earn his love. He loved us before we were even born. Through this saving love, God has made you his son or daughter. There is no catch. “Lord, thank you for your unconditional love for me!”6
Friar Jude Winkler explains the midrash nature of the text written by Paul to the Galatians. In sincere conversion, we have a role to follow the path of God. Friar Jude reminds us that diocesan bishops have designated exorcists for the few cases of demonic possession that they still encounter.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the present culture of angry partisan politics that exists on both the Left and the Right is far more effective at making us feel morally superior than it is at changing anyone’s mind. We should first seek to “clean the inside of our own dish,” as Matthew puts it (23:26), before we try to clean other people’s dishes, but that is less visible or heroic and, therefore, less common.
The Franciscan teaching of soft prophecy became a primary reason why we founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in 1987. The teaching and seeking of the nondual mind through solid contemplative practice seems to be the only effective way to integrate the inner with the outer journey. The result is summed up in one of our eight core principles: “The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.” [1] This approach guards against the most common criticisms of religion in general and social-justice work in particular, which, frankly, has tended to produce many negative, oppositional, and judgmental people. It has given Christianity a very bad name in much of the world, and seldom looks or feels like love.7
Dealing with evil and opposition from those with whom we disagree is facilitated by contemplative practice to engage our nondual mind.
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