A Penitent Blogger

Mindful of my imperfections, seeking to know Truth more deeply and to live Love more fully.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus? Cum vix iustus sit securus?
Recordare, Iesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae: Ne me perdas illa die...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Hey, stupid!

In today's first reading (Galatians 3:1-5), Saint Paul gives the good people of Galatia a vigorous slap in the face (emphasized by the use of a politically incorrect word in the Lectionary translation):

O stupid Galatians!

Who has bewitched you,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ
was publicly portrayed as crucified?
I want to learn only this from you:
did you receive the Spirit from works of the law,
or from faith in what you heard?

Are you so stupid?


The bottom-line message for us is simple: don't be stupid.

We need to cultivate the habit of double-checking ourselves from time to time, touching base with the sources of our faith and the truth we have received from Christ, so that we may not - by sloppy syllogisms, cumulative incremental compromises, or the silken whispers of temptation - drift away from what is true and right.

That would be stupid.