First Reading: Romans 8:12-17

 

Gospel: Luke 13:10-17

 

Saint Paul has left us a description of the life of faith. In accepting the gift of faith, believers become a new creation; they receive a new being; they are now "sons in the Son". 

 

The phrase "Abba, Father", so characteristic of Jesus’ own experience, now becomes the core of the Christian experience. The life of faith is the acknowledgment of an ancient and a radical gift which upholds our lives. 

 

We see this clearly in Saint Paul’s question to the Corinthians: "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7). Paul rejects the attitude of those who would consider themselves justified before God on the basis of their own works. Such people, even when they obey the commandments and do good works, are centered on themselves; they fail to realize that goodness comes from God. 

 

They become closed in on themselves and isolated from the Lord and from others. Saint Augustine tells us in his usual concise and striking way: "Do not turn away from the one who made you, even to turn towards yourself". The beginning of salvation is openness to something prior to ourselves. Salvation by faith means recognizing the primacy of God’s gift. As Saint Paul puts it: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God".