Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
I invite you to sit for a minute and ponder this question - what controls you - your body or your spirit? When you honestly sit down and look at the decisions you made today, when you think about your thoughts, words, and actions, do you find you were driven by the spirit or by a desire to meet the needs of your temporal body?
St. Paul reminds the Galatians, and us, what the works of the flesh are: “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like” (Galatians 5:19 – 21). It’s easy to look at this list and see the ones we don’t do. We can almost feel pride in the fact that we don’t participate in sorcery or orgies but take a closer look at this list. We are warned that those who are jealous, envious, selfish, angry, dishonest “will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21) Now that strikes a little closer to home. I’m certain I acted selfish, angry and jealous at least once today.
But does that mean that all hope is lost? Thankfully no. Yes, we are human. We are confined to these earthly bodies and our bodies have needs and wants – sometimes very powerful, controlling needs and wants. But as Christians we believe that there is so much more to strive for. Let me be clear - there is a difference between meeting our basic needs and being controlled by the desires of our body. I have come to believe more and more that one of our greatest tasks while here on earth is to learn the virtue of discipline and self-control. But I think this can only be done when we keep our eyes fixed on the Kingdom, when we remember that we are not home yet. A friend once told me, “In the symphony of life our time on earth is merely the prelude.”
So how do we shift our focus? I think we start by falling on our knees in gratitude. I am so thankful that God is a merciful God, who loves us and forgives us and gives us one chance after another to do better, to be better. I encourage you to take advantage of the sacrament of reconciliation. It is so freeing. And then we build a life centered on prayer. We cannot bear the fruits of the Spirit if we never create silent, sacred space to hear the whisper of the spirit or see the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
And once we listen to the spirit, how will that change things? What does a life immersed in the spirit look like? St. Paul tells us, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5: 22 – 23). How freeing it would be to have these virtues guiding my thoughts, words, and actions. But remember - these virtues are like muscles we must exercise. We don’t simply get good at them overnight. The more we trust in the spirit and prayerfully, deliberately choose patience or generosity or self-control, the more natural and instinctual that choice becomes in the future. And so, we work with the Holy Spirit to bear fruit - to create the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.
AJ Grimm