First off, they aren't passages we hear constantly (I'm looking at you, loaves and fish) but they're readings packed with dozens of messages, angles and lessons. So many, in fact, that I can't cover them in one post. So, I'm going to try something a bit different. This week, I'm going to write about today's readings a few times, each time from a different interpretation or point of view. Since the First Reading and Gospel are usually connected (Spoiler: This week is no exception) I'm going to take a look at the Second Reading first, from St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians.
Specifically, let's think about the relationship between our wants and God's.
Here's a funny picture of JP2, because Google Images didn't have anything for"Dichotomous relationship between human desire and God's will"
"For freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.
But do not use this freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh;
rather, serve one another through love.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement,
namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
beware that you are not consumed by one another.
I say, then: live by the Spirit
and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
these are opposed to each other,
so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law."
This reading, at first glance, seems to be a bit...split. Normally the passages we hear are fairly fluid, but this one seems to change gears right about the middle. It goes from talking about loving everybody to following God instead of our own desires. Don't get me wrong, those are both good things. They just seem...different. Like St. Paul got up to go...fish...or something, and forgot what he was saying.
Pictured: Not a fisherman.
What we might not realize, though, is that they have everything to do with each other. The command to love and the command to deny ourselves are very closely linked. I would even argue the former is not possible without the latter. Unless we deny the flesh, we cannot possibly hope to serve others.
Does it have to be that way though? Can't we love just as effectively and still do what we want?
No. No you cannot.
Right off the bat, Saint Paul reminds us that we have been set free for freedom. We used to be slaves, and now we are free. In fact, Paul follows that thought by telling us not to fall back into slavery. Slavery to what? I'm sure some of the people reading his letter were slaves held by human masters, but I'd bet the majority of them were just ordinary people. So what were we slaves to?
St. Paul makes it clear that we were slaves to ourselves, and our desires. Because of our human weakness, we desire things of the flesh. Food, drink, sex, all of the hedonistic, bodily pleasures. It wasn't always this way, though. Our weakness of the flesh (called concupiscence) is one of the lasting effects of Original Sin. We weren't made for this, but because of our weakness became trapped by it.
That's what Christ freed us from - Original Sin and all its effects. This doesn't mean we no longer feel the effects (Ask any mother if she felt any pain during childbirth if you don't believe me) but that we have been healed. The illness is cured, but some of the symptoms stuck around.
These desires aren't inherently bad, per se. If we never got hungry, we wouldn't know to eat, and we would all starve. The important part here, as with any sin, is when it becomes selfish. When it removes focus from God and places it on ourselves. That's why gluttony is a sin, not eating. It looks at food and desires it all for oneself.
Our flesh can be extraordinarily selfish sometimes. One doesn't have to look far to see how easily our society fell into its trap. It is as though our culture revolves around acquiring two things: food and sex. Liquor, too, if it aids in finding the former. That doesn't make food, or sex, or liquor bad in and of themselves. They become tools of sin when we turn them into objects of our desire. When we become selfish with them.
Now we can start to tie it in with the first command of this passage: Love one another. I've already made it clear that the whole point of love is sacrifice. Giving of ourselves, for the sake of somebody else. That's what Jesus told us again and again, and that's especially what he showed us on the cross.
Love, then, is the complete antithesis of selfishness. That is why the flesh and the Spirit (who is Love) are completely "opposed to each other." Not because the flesh is inherently bad, but because it has been corrupted by selfishness. Our human weakness makes us want things, sometimes a little too much. God calls us to give up the things we want out of love for each other.
Does that sound fun? Not one tiny bit. It sounds absolutely, completely horrible. You're telling me I have to give up what I want? But that's....things I want! Usually the things we want make us happy (or so we think) so any God who wants us to give them up must be crazy!
What God's telling us is...no. Those things won't make you happy. If you eat, you'll be hungry again. Nothing from this world can ever completely satisfy you, because you "were not made for this world" (John 15:19). We were made for something greater. We were made for heaven. This world, for as great as it can be sometimes, is not our home. If we expect it to make us happy, we are always disappointed.
I think sometimes we forget that God is very, very big (infinitely so) and we are very, very small. We are like babies to God. Do you remember being a baby? I don't, but I've been around little kids enough to know that they don't exactly want what's best for them.
Just this past Saturday I watched a little boy, not quite two years old, try to play with a power outlet. A big outlet with an even bigger outdoor extension cord. As in, the "this could very likely kill you if you play with it" kind. Did he know that? Nope. Did he care? Nope. All he knew was that he wanted to play with it, and mommy was the big meanie for not letting him.
We are toddlers. We want to play with the outlet. Let's all be thankful we've got God to protect us from ourselves.
Peek-a-boo!
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