The Holy Martyr Aquilina (286-305); Holy Triphillius, Bishop of Leucosia (Nicosia) on Cyprus (343)
Romans 3:19-26; Matthew 7:1-8
Apostles’ Fast
Read
Romans 3:19-26
Today’s epistle reading includes some of the most contested New Testament verses in the history of western Christendom. Righteousness through faith, or justification through faith, lay at the heart of some of the key debates between the Catholic Church and Protestant reformers, notably Martin Luther, in the first half of the 16th century. If we succumb to the old chestnut of an argument between Catholics and Protestants over faith versus works and what it actually is that justifies us, then we are missing the point and, instead, getting bogged down in the mire of pride. The Holy Apostle Paul is very clear here about what faith is: it is a gift and those who believe in Jesus Christ and redemption through His suffering are justified by grace. Grace is a gift that springs from God’s eternal righteousness and His eternal mercy revealed fully in the redemption that is granted in and through Jesus Christ. The essential point here is that it is God who saves us. Our challenge in our lives of faith is to accept this saving gift, in other words, to accept Christ as the one who saves.
Brothers and sisters, there is one very important thing in our Christian life that we must be convinced of: we cannot save ourselves. When we realize this, when we accept that Christ saves us out of love for us, then we can be truly free. But we must desire this love and seek this grace. The great Carmelite saint and doctor of the Church, St. Therese of Lisieux summed this point up nicely: “Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father’s love – difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul’s miseries, her burdens, her needs – everything because, through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God’s gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events – to the heart that loves, all is well.” One might say that faith is the love of God. Let us seek to love God ever more fully with our whole heart; to grow in faith, and to freely accept the grace that flows from God’s all-merciful love through Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ who is perfect love.