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     What is it that motivates our actions? Is it the potential for recognition, or wealth? It is from a sense of generosity, guilt or fear? All of these things can serve as an impetus to do something good. St. Paul states that in his relationship with Christ and others, the motivating force for him is love. He writes to the Corinthians in his Second Letter: “For the love of Christ impels us becuase we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2Cor 5:14-15)

     Christ’s motivation, doing all for the love of the Father is taken over by Paul who does all for the love of Christ. From his knowledge of the Lord, Paul clearly sees that people make no progress in real happiness by living only for themselves. Something like living for oneself alone can end only in emptiness and pain. The true reason for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that happiness comes from sharing the reason for our happiness with others. That kind of happiness is gained by focusing more on others than on ourselves.

     Often times we are moved acts of kindness or charity by guilt or fear, or even the hope of someone being grateful to us, but none of these give us a lasting reward. The only way we can receive a lasting reward is by doing acts of kindness out of our love of God and neighbor, expecting nothing in return. Our happiness comes from sharing our gift. We need to do nothing else. What greater joy can we experience than by telling someone that the love of Jesus Christ for us even unto death has opened the possiblity of goodness, peace and a new life of meaning? May the Lord give us the heart of St. Paul, so that our sole motivating reason fror our every action is the love of Christ, and not from what we may receive.

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     If the path to salvation is not through the Law, but through Jesus Christ, how is Jesus imprinted in us so that we may follow him? The answer Paul provides in Romans 8 is the Holy Spirit. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of Sonship. When we say ‘Abba ! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him.” (Rom 8: 14-17)

     The gift of the Holy Spirit is what enables us to live a life with Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to grow in holiness and turn away from sin. The Holy Spirit fills the believer with filial boldness, which helps us to cry out ‘Abba, Father!’ The person is no longer only a creature, but a child of God, and with that filial adoption comes all the rights that flow from divine sonship. Our inheritance is the sacramental life of the Church. We see fellow believers not as strangers, but as family. We see this world as a preparation for the world to come, and as God’s children, we are obliged to work that the Father’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This work consists of service to others, prayer, sacrifices and love that flows from a profound joy that God has condescended to call us his children.

     The Holy Spirit forms Jesus Christ in our hearts that we might manifest Christ through our words and actions. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus has reached us and put us on the path to the Father. We are no longer lost or lacking direction. We have a goal and with the grace of God, we also have the means to achieve it. The response from the heart of Paul is one of praise and thanksgiving for God’s goodness. May it come to be the response of our hearts as well.

     One of the central disagreements between Paul and the other Jews regarded the meaning of the Jewish Law. Both saw the Law itself as good and useful. It reveals sin to them and presents them with the right path to serve God.  While the Jews believed that salvation comes through the Law, Paul comes to a diferent conclusion. The Law serves only as rules. It does not make believers follow it. They have to choose to follow it themselves. It does not effect salvation for the person. It is rather a means given by God to work in the world until the arrival of the Messiah. Paul believes that when the Word became flesh in Jesus Christ, the Law itself has been fulfilled and even surpassed.

     He writes to the Romans: “For God has done what the Law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the first requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:34)

     Simply put, the Law does not save us. Jesus Christ by his death and resurrection saves us. This means that our faith is placed in Jesus Christ and not in the Law. It does not mean that the Law is insignficant, but rather that God has given us the Someone greater than the Law; in effect, the Law-Giver who through the power of the Holy Spirit makes us holy and helps us live a virtuous life.

     While the Law was given to the Jews to show God’s plan for them, they compromised on it and made it ineffective. Jesus Christ gives us the Law of God from his own lips, so that we might attain the goal that the Father has planned for his children. That is why St. Paul makes it clear that the way to salvation is through Jesus Christ, who shows us the fulfillment of the Law in his self-emptying love to the Father for the salvation of the world.

     What does Baptism mean for St. Paul? He clearly writes that when one comes to faith in Jesus Christ, his faith is sealed in the Sacrament of Baptism. Paul gives a simple explanation in the Letter to the Romans: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? We were buried with him in Baptism by his death so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom 6:3-5)

     For St. Paul, the answer for sin and death is faith in Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit given to the person in Baptism, he becomes a partaker in the divine naure and a son of God. Baptism constitutes our real death to the world, which destroys all that separates us from the love of God. It also makes us sharers in Christ’s resurrection so that now we live in the law of God’s grace, love and mercy. Baptism bestows on the person the hope that all of the person’s potential for holiness is unlocked and made possible to be ultimately lived out.

     Baptism is our spiritual birthday. Now REAL live begins. REAL life is life with God. REAL life is life in Christ. REAL life is formed and brought to fulfillment by the Holy Spirit.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians and support Sacred Heart Radio.

     When St. Paul speaks of his service of Jesus Christ, he talks as one who struggles to live out his faith. He does not see himself above his disciples, but companions with them in the faith, and he is trying to lead by example. Part of that leadership is admitting his weakness. He is far from the perfect Christian.

     He writes to the Romans: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Rom 7: 15-16, 18-19) There is no law outside of himself that will force him to do the right thing. This goodness must come from within. Thus for St. Paul, it is not the Law that makes him to do good, but rather it is the action of the Holy Spirit working within him.

     We too are faced with this challenge. We know the right thing to do, but it is sometimes hard for us to muster the power to do it. Different things may stop us: fear, laziness, lack of self-control, fatigue. The only power that can help us overcome our moral apathy is the Holy Spirit. With the many gifts of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us through faith in Jesus Christ, we are carried beyond our weaknesses and given the ability to act. This is a daily challenge for us. Every day we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to make us bold, give us confidence and trust to do the right thing not by the force of the law, but by the love of Jesus Christ and our neighbor. May God give us this gift every day, that we can overcome our spiritual apathy, and do what is just, right and holy for the love of Jesus Christ.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians and support Sacred Heart Radio.

     When St. Paul writes about the various gifts in the Church, he recognizes that it is through the diversity of the gifts that the unity of the Church is built up. He writes to the Corinthians: “Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same spirit; and there are a variety of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God that inspires them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1Cor 12:4-7)

     St. Paul makes it clear that these gifts are not for one’s personal benefit or profit, but for the glory of God and the building up of the Church. It is up to the Church to determine how these gifts are to be used and when they are to be used. God has given each person unique talents that he/she alone possesses. The Holy Spirit is the source of these gifts and helps us to use them to the best of our ability. As we discover them about ourselves or others discover them in us, we need to cultivate the generosity of heart to use them for others. If we do not choose  to make these gifts available to the service of the Church, we diminish the ability of the Church to make Christ known in the world.

     In order to serve Jesus Christ faithfully, we must eagerly seek to serve his Mystical Body, the Church. For St. Paul, Christians are obliged to do more than just “pray, pay and obey.” They must actively desire to share the faith that is within them, making use of the unique gifts given to them. Each person is essential to the Church. May we recognize our responsibility and faithfully live it out.

     We do not know whether or not St. Paul had a good singing voice, but he was always exhorting his disciples to sing to God. In the Letter to the Colossians, he writes: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col 3:16)

     When persons are filled with the love of Jesus Christ, they can raise their voices in songs of praise to God for Jesus Christ. When people’s hearts are heavy with sorrow and suffering, raising their voices in sorrowful laments lightens their burdens. Jesus Christ has sent the Holy Spirit upon all believers so that they might be instruments of his divine music. The melodies and musical notes stir the depths of human hearts to express in a more intense way what they feel and believe.

     The song of God’s love that the Holy Spirit pours into human hearts needs to come out. The gift of music offers blievers a unique way  to communicate the depths of their hearts to God. St. Augustine must have had St. Paul in mind when he wrote, “He who sings, prays twice!” God’s words to his people are music from his Sacred Heart to their hearts. May the songs, hymns and spiritual songs to the Lord lift our hearts so that we may raise our voices in praise, worship and thanksgiving.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians and support Sacred Heart Radio.

     When St. Paul reflects on the life of Jesus Christ, he realizes that Christ’s glory as the Son of God made man is the fruit of his sacrifice on the cross. He quotes this line from a hymn to the Church of Philippi, “Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has higly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. . .” (Phil 2:6-10).

     The path to glory that Jesus teaches us is the path of the cross. As human beings we may think of glory as fame, recognition, celebrity and wealth, but all of that will ultimately pass away. The only glory that lasts is the glory of God himself. For us to become partakers in that glory, to possess the dignity of the children of God, we must be emptied of all those things which are selfish, prideful and possessive.

     God created is to be a glorious people. The human race rejected this through the sin of Adam and Jesus himself restored it through his death and resurrection. Let us follow the path that Jesus has already walked. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to empty ourselves of all that is not life-giving and grace-filled so that, having surrendered all the passsing desires of this life, we can focus on the one lasting thing that God wants to give us, his glorious love.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians and suport Sacred Heart Radio.

Coming soon: what is Ecce Sacerdos?

     St. Paul makes an interesting comment in the Letter to the Colossians: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s affliction for the sake of his body, that is, the Church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the Word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now made manifest to his saints.” (Col 1:24-26)

     Paul does not mean that Christ’s sacrifice was in any way incomplete or unsatisfactory. His sacrifice was total and prefect and has brought about our redemption. Once Christ ascended to heaven, we were commanded to continue his mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we unite our actions and sufferings to Christ and thus continue to make known his sacriice and the redemption it brought to the whole world. The mystery of evil is conquered and destroyed by the mystery of grace, made fully known in Jesus Christ.

     If Christians did not carry this message and continue Christ’s saving deeds, the world would not know the grace it has been given. All Christians possess a great gift and a serious responsibility. The gift is the love of God and the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the responsibility is to continue to communicate the message and person of Jesus Christ through our words and actions. As members of His Mystical Body, the Church, we continue to embrace Christ’s sufferings and ours, so that the life and death of Jesus never loses its impact on the world.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians, and support Sacred Heart Radio.

Coming Soon: Ecce Sacerdos

     When St. Paul speaks of Christianity, he does not speak of higher or lower levels of Christian faith as if there are “cliques” of better Christians or worse Christians. All Christians possess the same goal: union with Christ in heaven. Therefore, it is important for all Christians not to divide themselves into different groups, but rather to work together. The strong need to help the weak; the bold need to help the timid and no one should cause scandal to the young believer.

     This is what St. Paul reminds the Thessalonians in his first Letter: “Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you brethren, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good for one another and to all.” (1Thes 5:14-15)

     No one gets to heaven under their own power. They have the help of the members of the Church, the communion of saints, the grace of the sacraments and the power of the Holy Spirit. We help to carry others, and there are some who will carry us from time to time. It is clear for Paul that the Christian faith is not just an individual practice, but the union of all the members of the Church who are working to help others to gain their common goal: holiness in this life, and heaven in the life to come.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians and support Sacred Heart Radio.

St. Clare, pray for us.

Coming soon: ECCE SACERDOS. Stay tuned for more information