The Holy Prophet Obadiah (Abdias); the Holy Martyr Barlaam
2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5; Luke 13:1-9
Nativity Fast.
Read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5
A common mistake that Christians make, and have made since the very beginning, is to think that we are saved or justified by our actions. This is a heresy today known as Jansenism. This sentiment today is usually hidden within a distorted piety. For instance, one may say ‘I have to make my Easter confession’ instead of ‘I go to confession to repent of my sins and seek forgiveness and healing’. Another attitude along the same lines is to go to the short, recited Liturgy to get it over with and fulfil your Sunday obligation.
Someone once complained to St. Josemaria Escriva, “The Mass is long,” and he replied, “Because your love is short.”
However one may express their hidden or not-so-hidden Jansenism, the common fruit of the heresy is scruples and anxiousness about salvation. How could one not be anxious about their salvation if it relied on them doing the right things. We are sinners and always fall short.
Paul was tireless in his activity against an early form of Jansenism. We see evidence of his struggle once again in today’s reading. “God chose you as the first-fruits to be saved” Paul tells the Thessalonians, not because of their good deeds or moral living, but “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”
You hear that? God chooses you to be saved and He sanctifies you by your faith in Him.
Without God’s initiative, we can never have faith. If God does not make Himself known to us, we cannot believe in Him. But God has appeared to us, made Himself known to us, and we have experienced His grace and mercy. In return, we choose to believe in Him, trust in Him, and give our lives to Him.
The fruits of this kind of relationship with God, in Paul’s words, are ‘eternal comfort and good hope’.
Eternal comfort and good hope.
If I were to believe what the news tells me, I would be fearful because of disease, I would be hopeless because the wrong person got elected somewhere, I would be angry because people everywhere are doing the wrong thing.
That doesn’t sound like eternal comfort and good hope.
Recall how God has worked in your life and seek the eternal comfort and good hope He promises you. Make that request in your prayer every day.