The Venerable-Martyr Stephen the New (c. 764); The Holy Martyr Irenarchus (284-305)
Galatians 3:8-12; Luke 9:57-62
Nativity Fast.
Read Galatians 3:8-12
In today’s epistle, we return to one of the central themes of the Holy Apostle Paul’s writings: faith and works. This theme is explored in-depth in the epistle to the Romans, but St. Paul takes it up here again in the third chapter of his letter to the Galatians. The central question is how are we justified before God? Or perhaps, put more simply, what counts? God has clearly revealed to us what is good and just and right in the Old Testament through the law; we often think about the Ten Commandments. But most importantly we have the two great commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) and you shall love your neighbour as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). Our Lord reminds us that these are indeed the greatest commandments and that all of the law and the prophets rest on them (Matt 22:37-40). What is important here is that both commandments call upon us to act, to love and specifically to love God and neighbour.
Brothers and sisters, we must not rest simply on our faith and do nothing, the Holy Spirit that constantly calls to us in our heart and impels us to act in the world: to be Christ’s hands and feet, his eyes and ears. Likewise, our actions when not motivated by a deep faith nurtured by personal prayer and the grace of the Holy Mysteries can become selfish. We must constantly persevere in faith with a genuine desire to deepen that faith and enter ever more fully into the life of the Life-Giving Trinity. And, we must do good: to love our neighbour through concrete and genuine actions and so bear witness to Christ in the world.