Paul challenges the Galatians: Your life comes from the Gospel, not the Law.
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Do we sometimes lose sight of the fact that our ability to
live the Christian life comes from God's Spirit uniting us to Christ's
body? Jesus said, "Remain united to me . . . for you can do
nothing without me." John 15:4-5
***
In forensic psychiatry, there are two major areas of criminal
evaluation. These are Competency to Stand trial (CST) and Mental State at
the Time of the Offence (MSO). Forensic psychiatrists work with courts
evaluating an individual's competency to stand trial, defenses based on mental
diseases or defects (e.g., the "insanity" defense), and sentencing
recommendations. Putting it simply, although it may be over-simplifying things, forensic psychiatrists determine whether those on trial are mad or bad.
In the opening lines of the 1st reading, St. Paul seemed to be asking the
Galatians if they were mad or bad. Because they are turned away so quickly from
the truth of the gospel and entertained other forms of practices and teachings
that St. Paul had to ask if they were mad or if they were under some kind of
spell.
Furthermore it was because they had believed in the truth of the gospel and
hence, they received the Holy Spirit. But now they turned to other teachings
and practices thinking they could get more of the power of the Holy Spirit. Indeed,
the simple and profound truth of gospel is that Jesus was crucified and died
for our sins to save us. Believing in that would open us to live our lives in
the Spirit.
And if we live our lives in the Spirit, then what Jesus said in the gospel
would certainly be true: Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will
find; knock and it will be opened to you. We just need to persevere and persist
in believing the truth and to believe that the Holy Spirit would lead us along
the way. Believing in something else may mean that we are either mad or really
bad.
****
Saint Bruno
Feast day October 6
Bruno was an 11th-century theology teacher who taught for
more than 18 years and headed schools. He wrote essays on the psalms and Saint
Paul’s letters. Bruno risked his reputation by opposing Manasses, the
archbishop of Rheims in modern-day Germany. Manasses had acquired this position
unfairly by buying it, which is known as simony.
When Manasses was removed from his role as archbishop, he
confiscated Bruno’s property. Bruno hid in an associate’s house where he was
joined by two friends. One day, Bruno left his post as a teacher and joined six
companions to go to a hermitage and live a life of prayer. On the way, Bruno
stopped to see an old friend, Hugh of Grenoble. Hugh greeted him with
amazement. The night before, Hugh had dreamed of seven stars settling on the
Chartreuse Alps, which he interpreted to mean Bruno with six companions. So
Hugh took the group to the mountains, where they built a chapel.
Six years later, Pope Urban II called Bruno to Rome, where
Bruno influenced the pope on Church matters. The pope offered to make him a
bishop, but Bruno declined. He agreed to found another hermitage in Italy,
where he died in 1101. Bruno was never formally canonized. In 1623, his feast
was put in the Roman calendar. Though Bruno wrote no rule and never intended to
start an order, he is considered the founder of the Carthusian monks.
Suggestions
- The
Carthusian monk lives in a hermitage consisting of a workroom and a
private garden on the ground floor and a living room above. Here he prays,
works, studies, eats, and sleeps. He rises at midnight and prays the
Divine Office in church. Then he returns to his room to sleep for about
three hours. He rises at dawn for Mass, and in the evening, he prays
Vespers. The day is given to prayer, study, silence, and manual labor. In
winter, one meal is taken at noon, and bread and beverage are taken in the
evening. In the summer, there are two meals. No meat is eaten. The monks
eat together only on major feast days. Ask the students how monks help us
and why we need people who give their lives in penance and prayer for the
world. Write on the board the Carthusian motto, “While the world changes,
the cross stands firm.”
- Saint Bruno saw penance as something that frees the spirit to be close to God. Suggest that the students fast from snacks for one day.
***
Saint Bruno (c.1030 -1101)
Bruno Hartenfaust was ordained priest at 25, and received a canonry at Cologne but was recalled by the Bishop of Rheims to assist in directing his former school.
In 1075 he was appointed Chancellor and Canon-theologian for the diocese. But after the death of his friend, Bishop Gervais, the See was occupied by the worldly and violent Manasses I who, when later suspended, fled for his life in a popular uprising. Bruno and his six companions thereupon carried out a vow made some years before to leave the world and embrace the monastic life in the Alpine solitude of the Chartreuse given to them by St Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble, commencing in 1084 a life of silence, prayer, labour, study, mortification, and poverty. That was the beginning of the Eremitical Order of Carthusians.
Bruno, however, was to spend only six years at the Chartreuse, for Pope Urban II, a former pupil at Reims, called him to Rome as his adviser and confessor with the aim of continuing the reform of the clergy initiated by Pope St Gregory VII; but faced with the anti-pope, Guibert, and the military advances of Emperor Henry IV, Bruno repeatedly tried to persuade Urban to let him return to the solitary life, but Urban wished him to remain within call, and so had a new monastery founded in Calabria, where Bruno died in 1101. His Grande Chartreuse continued to grow until it controlled some 250 monasteries.
Reflection: “In the midst of the battle which we fight for God, we enjoy peace which the world does not know” (St Bruno).
***
Thursday, October 8
INSISTENT PRAYER
Introduction
Like the Galatians, we fall easily prey to the perpetual temptation of creating
our own righteousness, of trying to save ourselves by rites and practices.
These give us a feeling of security. And then comes the thought, usually
disguised: If I am above reproach, if I have done my duty, I am safe. In no
uncertain terms Paul tells us: you are saved not by the Law but by faith in
Christ.
Luke tells us that Jesus prayed often. And insistently, as at his agony. Now he
tells us that Jesus wants us too to be persevering, insistent and even bold in
our prayer. For God is good. How can he resist us when we pray? He will give us
not only good things but also the Holy Spirit, the gift that contains all
gifts.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
when we cry out to you,
we wonder at times whether you hear us
for your silence is sometimes oppressive.
Keep us trusting in your goodness
and your constant presence.
Give us what is good when we ask you,
and also when we forget to ask,
let us find you when we seek you,
open to us when we knock,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commentary
Paul’s anger in Galatians at times almost sears the pages. There are members of
the community who want to incorporate the Jewish law into their belief. For
Paul, this is nothing short of sacrilegious. He asks them to stop and reflect.
Did they receive the Spirit from faith in what he preached or from the works of
the law? Paul finds their move senseless. For Paul, it is faith in the salvific
work of Christ that makes us holy, not any work of our own, as good as it may
be.
The Gospel today reminds us that our God is a good and loving Father. Precisely
because he is so good, we should be dutiful in carrying out his will and
confident in expressing our needs, "lb place the law between God and the
believer would mean that we must work to attain his favor. Such is not the case.
We are loved simply because we are.
Paul rightly asks, What brought faith to Galatia—the word that was preached or
works of the law? It was the faith that was preached, of course. What counts is
not the things that we do but rather our faith in the One who has done the work
for us.
Points to Ponder
The faith that saves
The role of works
Perseverance in prayer
Intercessions
– For those in the Church to whom the ministry of forgiveness had been
especially entrusted, that they may be uncompromising with evil, yet welcome
sinners with respect and merciful love, we pray:
– For contemplative monks and nuns, that we may appreciate their life of
penance and prayer and be grateful for the Lord’s blessings they obtain for us,
we pray:
– For all Christians, that our prayers for the poor and the suffering may
commit us more to bring them justice, to lighten their burdens and restore
their dignity, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
you let us experience your goodness
by giving us Jesus, your Son.
In these signs of bread and wine
we express our trust in you.
Be merciful to us and hear our prayers.
Grant us the bread of your Son
and the things we need in life
for the sake of Jesus Christ,
you Son and our Lord for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
in answer to our pleading
you have given the bread of life,
to us, your special possession.
Accept our thanks
and help us not to be deaf
to the cries of those who appeal to us.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Blessing
“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the
door will be opened to you.” For God is good and he blesses you, the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
