The Holy Hieromartyr Babylas, Bishop of Antioch; The Holy Prophet Moses Who Saw God.
Abstention from meat and foods that contain these ingredients.
Galatians 4:8-21; Mark 6:45-53.
Read Galatians 4:8-21
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said that baloney is flattery laid on so thick that you hate it, but blarney is flattery laid on so thin that you love it. Today’s passage from St. Paul shows us that he may well have been Irish, what with his skillful blarney toward the Galatians.
The Galatians are taken to task by Paul for chasing after the old elemental spirits of deception from which they were first delivered. Yet it is as a true and gentle shepherd that the “Apostle to the Gentiles” works on their rough edges. Notice how he avoids the flood of flattery to which men are so accustomed when they wish to persuade others. He says that he is “perplexed” about them and asks how he has become their “enemy” by speaking the truth.
He also avoids falling into the canyon of the critics. He speaks honestly and vulnerably of having come among them ailing and as a burden. He praises them for receiving him as though he were an angel, treating him with every grace and goodness. By this, he images the Lord Jesus, who, while we were sinners, called us brethren.
You have three choices in how you deal with erring friends. You can bellyache and habitually complain about the bad. You can practice baloney by flattering them into a slow death. Or you can preach with blarney, so that the thin layer of correction is served up with a good measure of self-effacing love.