Reflection on Romans 7:18-25 and Luke 12:54-59. We celebrate the memorial of St. Aretas and Companions, martyrs who encouraged us: “We die for Christ not in sorrow but with a song of victory.”
Are we the residue of sin, or the residence of grace?
Right formation allows us to live a life with right judgment and sound decisions.
The inner spiritual struggle is experienced by every one of us, as St. Paul explains in the first reading. To deal with sin within ourselves, we must nourish our consciences with the Word of God and the teachings of the Church. Without this nourishment, we become misguided by the inner law that opposes God’s law.
The joy of knowing and doing things with responsibility comes through the grace and forgiveness offered by Jesus on Calvary—not by the mere adherence to the law. God’s love and the divine law written in our hearts are often at odds with the law imprinted in our human nature. The conflict—the tension between being good and doing good—is constantly under attack from within, by the reign of sin that still lingers in us.
The path of perfection in us is corroded and collided by the particles of imperfection within each of us. The currents in the streams of sin wash away our desire to love God and to serve humanity. As St. Paul confesses, “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Rom 7:19).
The unquenchable desire to love God and obey His law is often diverted, distracted, and decimated by the law of sin that resides in our bodies. The law itself does not have the power to transform or save us—it merely reveals what is right and wrong. Jesus alone is the source of grace and redemption.
The responsorial psalm reminds us, “Lord, teach me your statutes.” (Ps 118:68). In the Gospel, Jesus points out our inability to discern and judge rightly. We are invited to invest our energy, resources, and time in discerning the time of God rather than exhausting ourselves in interpreting natural phenomena.
Let us not waste our resources on predictions but rather cherish the presence of the Lord in our daily lives.
May God bless you always.