Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 31, 2011 – St. John’s, Goshen
As our second reading today we have heard the last verses of the eighth chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. That chapter brings to an end the section of the Epistle (chs. 5-8) in which Paul has offered a concentrated summary of his Gospel: the revelation of the love of God in Christ, who died for us even while we were still sinners, and in the Holy Spirit, who has been poured into our hearts to enable our love of God in return; the drama of the universal sinfulness that leads to death of the spirit and of the universal reconciliation won for us by Christ; our participation in Christ’s death and resurrection in baptism; the inner conflict that continues to trouble even the Christian; the freedom gained for us in “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus”; the multiple ways in which that Holy Spirit acts within us, giving life, rescuing us from slavery to sin, making us children of God able to call him “Abba,” “Father”, teaching us how to pray, sustaining us and all creation as we await the redemption of our bodies.
And after all this, Paul’s rhetorical question: “What can separate us from the love of Christ?” (more…)