St. Mary's Church Elizabeth, IL

9/7

This is your wake-up call

READ GALATIANS, CHAPTER 1 VERSES 6 TO 10

     Dispensing with standard forms of a Greek letter, Paul gets right to the point here: Recent developements inthe Galatian church have placed the community in a grave danger of forsaking the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul has some background work to do before he can examine the heart of the crisis.  He wastes no time, however, in making the Galatians aware that a crisis exists.

        " I am astonished that you are so quickly...turning to a different gospel."

                                                                                                               Galatians 1:6

     Sometimes, as Marshall McLuhan once wrote, "the medium is the message.'  What makes Vatican II document Lumen Gentium so profoundly revolutionary, for example, is not only what it says but how it is structured.  Flung right into the teeth of a Church that emphasized hierarchy as the dominanat characteristic of visible Body of Christ came a document that does not even mention the hierarchy until it has done its due reflection on the Church as a Mystery, Sacrament, and the People of God.

     Paul's placement of his dire warning outside th normal rules and regulations of th Greek letter greatly heightens the urgency of the message itself-God's gift of grace and peace can be lost if the gospel is rejected.  "Even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!"  Nothing in heaven or earth could compensate for tragedy that results when human beings abandon the core gospel truth-that we are loved beyond our abilities to imagine.

     Who is trying really hard to get my attention today? Why?

Prayer Starter:  Help me, Lord, to recognize that often you are found outside of the lines.

Fr. Joachim