Our Holy Fathers and Patriarchs of Constantinople Alexander, John, and Paul the Younger.
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Galatians 4:8-21. Mark 6:45-53.
Read Galatians 4:8-21
“My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!”
This phrase strikes at the heart of Paul’s preaching across the Mediterranean. It is not enough for Paul to spread the facts about Jesus. These facts must be internalized. When we do this, Christ is born anew in our hearts and Christ is formed in us. Paul will echo this at the beginning of the Letter to the Colossians. Jesus is the mystery hidden from all ages—not simply Jesus coming in the flesh, but the “glory” of this mystery is Christ in you. Paul makes clear that the plan from all eternity is for God to be united to humanity. St. Irenaeus already in the 2nd century says as much. Why did God create man? To become man and unite himself to man. Paul has grasped this mystery hidden from all ages now revealed in Jesus. For this reason, he labours more than all the rest of the apostles, and here in this passage from Galatians, he endures mistreatment from them. He will not stop working for them, even though the relationship has soured. His travail endures mockery, imprisonment, for he emphatically believes that the Gospel needs to be preached. Not simply to make people aware of the facts, but for people to wear their identity in Christ proudly and boldly as he himself does. For in Christ, all is made new. The question is, do we want this newness, or stay dead in a life that is passing away?