This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
Today we get a window into St. Paul’s mindset as he so vehemently contrasts attachment to the Mosaic Law and faith in Christ.
Apparently, some gentile converts to Christianity are actually getting themselves circumcised according to Jewish custom. In doing so, they are converting to Judaism as well as Christianity. St. Paul clearly sees this as an unnecessary hindrance, because in doing so, they then need to learn all the ins and outs of the very detailed Jewish law, which Paul sees as a distraction from their focus on Christ.
But to him, it is something more than a distraction as well. It is a dangerous tendency to believe that salvation partially comes from compliance with the law, as if one saves oneself, at least in part.
When speaking of Mosaic Law, it is often helpful for us Christians to focus on the Ten Commandments. In this context, on the other hand, the problem lies largely with all the detailed prescriptions that extend beyond those Commandments. These details helped form the national identity of the people of God over centuries. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, Paul has come to the realization that they don’t need to play a role for those outside of Judaism who find God and their source of temporal and eternal fulfillment in Christ.
Paul certainly dispenses no one from following the Commandments. Over and over again in his letters, he repudiates various behaviors that run contrary to them. But with equal passion, he cautions against any tendency to equate happiness, fulfillment, salvation, and sanctification with focus on compliance with the Law.
This message remains intensely relevant today. As we strive to purify our actions from sin, we can come to equate this action with our quest for happiness and salvation. Then, there can come a point where we feel like we are just refining, just tweaking in this purification process, no longer gouging out big habits of sin. We may come to wonder why we still feel spiritually restless and very imperfect and unworthy of God. The effect can be something like dry heaves when we are sick–we are still ill, but our body’s effort to purge itself by vomiting proves fruitless.
In such a situation, we can make the same mistake as Paul’s audience in today’s first reading. We can exacerbate the situation by doubling down on our efforts for external perfection, instead of realizing that the problem no longer resides as much with our voluntary actions.
Due to original sin and our personal sin, we are broken deep, deep inside ourselves in a way that can profoundly trouble us in our spiritual life, but which we cannot resolve through our personal ascetic efforts. When we discover this to be the case, we must double down, rather, on our prayer life–not necessary adding hours and hours of time, but rather striving to be as consistent as we can in our time dedicated to prayer each day. Because Jesus is like the sun. When we spend time with Him, not only does He “warm” us spiritually, He can “burn away” slowly those deeper roots of sin and conform our hearts more and more to Himself.
If this is a little bit frustrating, since these aspects of our purification lie outside our control, it is nonetheless very exciting, because the end result is a heart deeply united to Christ, without impediment.
But let us not make the mistake of the Pharisee in today’s Gospel passage, whom Jesus upbraids for his excessive focus on perfection in external compliance. Our Christian happiness will never come from perfection in the habits that we ourselves will control. If we are wise, our efforts for such perfection will lead to humility, because we’ll realize that we can never quite get it exactly right. If we are fools, we will become prideful and smug in our supposed sense of our own perfection, like the Pharisee. But in the end, happiness does not lie in perfection, any more than we can quench our thirst from a perfectly cleansed but empty glass. Only Christ Himself, and our relationship with Him, brings the fulfillment and happiness that we seek.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to send you the Holy Spirit to understand where He wants you to combat sin in your life, and where, on the other hand, He wants you to detach yourself from the effort for external perfection and attach yourself to Him, His mercy, and His saving power. Ask Him above all to infuse you with supernatural Charity, to conform your heart to His, until His obsession with the welfare of your neighbor will infect you and eclipse excessive self-concern.
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