The Holy Priest-Martyr Hermolaus and those with him (286-305); Holy Venerable-Martyr Parasceve
1 Corinthians 10:5-12; Matthew 16:6-12
Read 1 Corinthians 10:5-12
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
St. Paul reminds us today of a frightening reality: we can lose salvation. The grace of salvation is given out of love and as a pure gift. There is nothing that we can do to earn salvation; otherwise, there would be no need for Christ and the law would be sufficient. The Israelites of old had experienced God’s free grace in very powerful ways, but did not guard themselves from temptation to fall away from it. God expected that they would willingly choose Him and align their lives to His. They did not struggle in the pursuit of righteousness and holiness, but rather fell into idolatry, immorality, were quick to grumble and put the Lord to the test. The grace that we receive is even greater for through the cross and resurrection the Kingdom has been open to us—we live in a time when “the end of the age has come.” The great gift of baptism opens for us the door of the Kingdom, but just because I’m baptised doesn’t mean I’m saved automatically. Just as with the Israelites, so also today the Lord expects that we humbly engage our faith with effort in the pursuit of righteousness and holiness—striving to align our life with Christ.
N.B. – we apologise for the late reception of today’s reflection. Our writer was a Forgetful Freddie.