Scripture:
2 Corinthians 6:1-10
Matthew 5:38-42
Reflection:
This passage of Paul is very personal. Paul asserts that now is the acceptable time and day of salvation.
Do we think that today? Is today really a day of grace for us? Maybe, like the Corinthians of Paul’s time, we have many difficulties and challenges to our faith. We become discouraged by what is happening, or not happening in our parishes. We feel let down by our episcopal leaders. Or there may be factions and dissent in the community. His passage reminds us that we have not received God’s grace in vain. Paul spoke of what he had to endure: beatings, imprisonments, riots. He spoke of how he disciplined himself with labors, vigils, and fasts. Yet through all of the events of his life he acted through the Holy Spirit and in the power of God. He saw in his life a mixture of light and darkness, of good and bad, of having nothing, yet possessing all things. In our own journey we need to hold fast to what God has done for us. Paul bared his soul to the community of Corinth. May we hold steady on the course and run as to win the prize.
Fr. Michael Hoolahan, C.P,. is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.