Post-feast of the Exaltation of the Cross; Holy Great-Martyr Euphemia, the All-Famed (303)
Galatians 6:2-10; Mark 7:14-24
Read Galatians 6:2-10
St. Paul gives us an important teaching about personal faith and private revelation. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that St. Paul persecuted the Church of Christ and was set on eliminating it altogether. It was in the middle of this grave misdirection of zeal that Christ appeared to him and shocked him entirely (Acts 9:4-9). From that moment on he spent all of his time trying to understand how the scripture was preparing the coming of God incarnate. The more he read with eyes seeking Christ the more he came to understand that God was preparing Israel fo the incarnation right from the beginning of creation. This discovery and growth in knowledge directed his zeal towards the reception and proclamation of the Gospel, but he did not yet confirm his faith with the Church.
St. Paul could have continued to preach and proclaim his Gospel as a unique revelation from Heaven and thus superior to the teaching of the apostles—in other words, establishing his own church across the street, but he did not. Instead, he humbly brought his faith to the feet of the leading apostles, who were entrusted by Christ to be the pillars of the Church. He did not want to be in error or schism with the rest of the Church, so he came to test his teaching—to be out of line with apostolic teaching is a ‘vain’ pursuit. In the same way, we should also strive with zeal to grow in understanding of the faith, but always in line with the apostolic faith handed down to us through the Church.