Saint Thomas More was one of the most intellectually gifted men of his time. As a young man, he had the prestigious honor of receiving an appointment to Oxford University. Though his parents were wealthy and could provide Thomas with as much money as he wanted, they decided to give their son a meager allowance during his Oxford years. They were afraid that he, like many of his wealthy peers, would opt for the “party” life and do a mediocre job with his studies. Having to live like a “poor” student, More devoted himself to his studies and became a brilliant scholar. In time he became, perhaps, the most respected man in England. His parents’ strategy paid off! I wonder if they even dreamed that he would be one of the greatest saints in the Catholic Church?
Imagine the grief his parents would have experienced had Thomas More wasted his opportunity at Oxford. To think that after investing so much time and money in their son, he would waste it by becoming caught up with the party crowd, was something they couldn’t cope with. All their work would have been done in vain.
Today we listen to St. Paul pour out his anguish over a community of Christians in whom he invested so much of his life; he found out that they were quickly going down the drain spiritually. He wondered if his hard work with them had been in vain (Galatians 3:1-5)?
“Did you experience so many things in vain?—if indeed it was in vain.”
These people had started off their walk with Jesus enthusiastically, and now they were sliding back to the more comfortable lifestyle of following the Jewish law rather than living a dynamic Christian life. Paul must have wondered, “What went wrong?”
He confronted them with the words:
“Are you so stupid? After beginning with the (Holy) Spirit, are you now ending in the flesh?”
“Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”
They kept the framework of faith but lost Jesus. They chose to focus on what they could do by using their natural abilities—obeying laws, observing feast days, and working to maintain their Jewish culture—rather than what they could do under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul hoped that by confronting the Galatians he could wake them up and stir them to get back on track. He couldn’t bear the thought that his efforts with “his children” had been wasted. We don’t know how the people received Paul’s rebuke; we hope that they were touched deeply and returned to the dynamic Christian life of following the Holy Spirit in their lives and keeping their focus on the crucified Jesus.
I wonder if God decided to do an evaluation of the Twenty-first-century Church, and asked St. Paul to head the evaluation team. What kind of letter would Paul write us at the end of the process? Would he rejoice in our faithfulness to Christ even amid subtle persecution, or would he get on our case as he did with the Galatian Church? Would he say, “You have inherited 2000 years of wisdom, example, and faith. The ball is now in your hands. Are you living up fully to your potential or have you fallen the way of the Galatians? What legacy are you handing on to the next generation who needs your footsteps to follow?”
I offer the following questions for journaling:
- What do you think Paul would say in his letter to today’s Church?”
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When I feel that God is being hard on me, what is my reaction?
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What words of Paul seem to be directed at me today? Do I need encouragement or conviction?
“Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son” (Acts 16:14).
