Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ...
I find it somewhat disconcerting that the framers of the Lectionary for Mass have excerpted the passage which gives us the Lord's Prayer out of its context. Instead of presenting it as Jesus did, within the context of his three-fold admonition concerning prayer, fasting and almsgiving, they present it to us the next day or, as is the case during Lent, a few days later. I tend to find the...
First of all, I want to thank one of my faithful readers (she knows who she is) for catching a typo in yesterday's blog entry. I meant to say that our salvation is a gift WITHOUT condition.
However, today's readings beg me to follow up on what I wrote yesterday, for again, without saying so explicitly, St. Paul and the Gospel of Matthew once again speak about the issue of "good works." ...
None of St. Paul's letters is stronger in maintaining his belief that we are justified by faith alone than is the Letter to the Galatians. We have already heard him reaffirm this in the first few chapters of this letter. So it is important that we also take special notice of what he asks of the Galatians in the passage that we read today.
The old argument that there is some sort of...