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Walking and maturing in Christian freedom. Letter to the Galatians (II)

02/12/2021

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Omnes

Ramiro Pellitero

Professor of the School of Theology at the University of Navarre

The Pope's catechesis on the Letter to the Galatians took up fifteen Wednesdays, from 23 June to 10 November this year 2021. We now complete the presentation we made of the first five audiences in the September issue of Omnes.

St. Paul opposes "hypocrisy" (Gal 2, 13). In the Sacred Scripture there are examples where hypocrisy is combated, such as that of the old man Eleazar. And, above all, Jesus' appeals to some Pharisees.

Love of truth, wisdom and brotherhood 

"The hypocrite," says Francis, "is a person who pretends, flatters and deceives because he lives with a mask on his face and does not have the courage to face the truth. For this reason, he is not capable of true love - a hypocrite does not know how to love - he limits himself to living in selfishness and does not have the strength to show his heart with transparency"(General Audience 25-VIII-2021). 

Today we also have many situations where hypocrisy can occur, on work, in politics and also in the Church: "To act contrary to the truth is to endanger the unity of the Church, for which the Lord himself prayed"(ibid.). Hypocrisy is one of the dangers of clinging to the formalism of preferring the old Law to the new Law of Christ. 

The apostle Paul wishes to warn the Galatians of the dangers into which they could fall and goes so far as to call them "foolish" (cf. Gal 3:1), that is, senseless. They are foolish, the Pope explains, because they cling to "a religiosity based solely on the scrupulous observance of precepts"(General Audience, 1-IX-2021), forgetting what justifies us: the gratuitousness of Jesus' redemption and that holiness comes from the Holy Spirit.

And so, Francis observes, St. Paul also invites us to reflect: how do we live our faith: is Christ with his newness the centre of our life, or are we content with formalisms? And the Pope exhorts us: "Let us ask for the wisdom to always be aware of this reality and to expel those fundamentalists who propose to us a life of artificial asceticism, far removed from the resurrection of Christ. Asceticism is necessary, but wise asceticism, not artificial asceticism" (ibid.).

Christian wisdom is rooted in the newness of Christian revelation. Through baptism, we are made children of God. Once "faith has come" in Jesus Christ (Gal 3:25), a radically new condition is created which immerses us in divine sonship. The sonship of which Paul speaks is no longer the general one that involves all men and women as sons and daughters of the one Creator. The apostle affirms that faith enables us to become children of God "in Christ" (v. 26).

This is the "newness": "Whoever receives Christ in faith is clothed with Him and with filial dignity through baptism (cf. v. 27)". And it is not a question of an external "putting on". In the Letter to the Romans, Paul will go so far as to say that, in baptism, we died with Christ and were buried with Him in order to live with Him (cf. 6, 3-14). " Those who receive it", saysFrancis,"are transformed in their innermost being and possess a new life, which allows them to turn to God and invoke him with the name 'Abba', that is, father"(General Audience, 8-IX-2021).

It is therefore a new identity, which transcends ethno-religious differences. Thus, among Christians, there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female (cf. Gal 3:28), but only brothers and sisters. And this was revolutionary then and still is. We Christians - Francis proposes - must first of all reject among ourselves the differences and discriminations, which we so often make unconsciously, in order to make concrete and evident the call to the unity of the whole human race (cf. Lumen gentium, 1).

In this way we see how the love of truth that the Christian faith proposes is transformed into wisdom and promotes fraternity among all people. 

Faith in deeds, freedom and openness to all cultures

At catechesis on 29 September the successor of Peter explained the meaning of justification by faith and grace, as a consequence of the "merciful initiative of God who grants forgiveness" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1990). It is not we who are saved by our efforts or merits. It is Jesus who "justifies" us. That's right: he makes us righteous or holy (for in Scripture God's righteousness and holiness are identified).

But we should not conclude from this that for Paul the Mosaic Law has no value; in fact, it remains an irrevocable gift of God, it is - the Apostle writes - holy (Rom 7:12). For our spiritual life too, Francis observes, it is essential to keep the commandments, but in this too we cannot count on our own strength alone: the grace of God which we receive from Christ is fundamental: "From Him we receive that gratuitous love which enables us, at the same time, to love in a concrete way"(General Audience, 29-IX-2021).

In this way we can understand a statement of the Apostle James which might seem to be the opposite of what St. Paul says: "You see how a man is justified by works and not by faith alone [...] For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead" (James 2:24,26). 

This means that justification, which faith works in us, demands our correspondence with our works. This is why the teachings of the two apostles are complementary. From there, we are to imitate God's style, which is one of closeness, compassion and tenderness: "The power of grace needs to be combined with our works of mercy, which we are called to live in order to show how great God's love is" (ibid.). 

Christian freedom is a gift that springs from the Cross: "Precisely where Jesus allowed himself to be nailed, where he became a slave, God has placed the source of human liberation. This never ceases to amaze us: that the place where we are stripped of all freedom, namely death, can become source of freedom"(General Audience, October 6, 2011). In full freedom, Jesus gave himself up to death (cf. Jn 10, 17-18) to obtain true life for us.

Therefore, Christian freedom is based on the truth of faith, which is not an abstract theory, but the reality of the living Christ, who illuminates the meaning of our life staff. Many people who have not studied, who do not even know how to read and write, but who have understood the message of Christ well, have that wisdom which makes them free.

This Christian path of truth and freedom, Francis points out, is a difficult and tiring path, but not impossible, because in it we are sustained by the love that comes from the cross, and that love reveals the truth to us, gives us freedom and, with it, happiness.

The following Wednesday Francis showed how the Christian faith, which St Paul preached with a heart inflamed by the love of Christ, does not lead us to renounce the cultures or traditions of peoples, but to recognise the seeds of truth and good contained in them, opening them up to the universalism of faith and bringing them to fulfilment. 

This is what is called inculturation of the Gospel: "To be able to proclaim the Good News of Christ the Saviour while respecting what is good and true in cultures", even if it is not easy, because of the temptation to impose one's own cultural model (General Audience, 13 October 2021). And its foundation is the Incarnation of the Son of God, who has united himself in a certain way with every human being (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 22).

This is why, Francis deduced, the name Catholic Church is not a sociological designation to distinguish us from other Christians."Catholic is an adjective that means universal: catholicity, universality. Universal Church, that is to say Catholic, means that the Church has in herself, in her very nature, an openness to all peoples and cultures of all times, because Christ was born, died and rose again for all"(General Audience, ibid.).

What does this mean in our present time of technological culture? That the freedom that faith gives us - he proposed - asks us to be on a constant journey, to "inculturate" the Gospel also in our digital culture. 

And so we see how the Christian faith, which lives in deeds, opens up to cultures with the message of the Gospel, encourages dialogue between them and brings out the best in each one. 

Serving and maturing under the guide of the Holy Spirit

Through baptism - the Pope later insisted - "we have passed from the slavery of fear and sin to the freedom of the children of God"(General Audience, October 20, 2011). But according to St. Paul, this freedom is in no way "a pretext for the flesh" (Gal 5,13): a libertine life, which follows instinct and selfish impulses. On the contrary, the freedom of Jesus leads us, writes the Apostle, to be at the service of one another out of love.

Indeed, it should be noted that Christian freedom expresses the horizon and the goal, the path and the very meaning of human freedom: service out of love; for we possess life only if we lose it (cf. Mk, 8, 35). " This ", Francis points out, "is pure Gospel". This is "the test of freedom".

The Pope explains that there is no freedom without love. He warns which subject love it is: "Not with the intimate love, with the love of a soap opera, not with the passion that simply seeks what suits us and pleases us, but with the love we see in Christ, charity: that is the love that is truly free and liberating" (cf. Jn 13:15) . A selfish freedom, without end or reference," he adds, "would be an empty freedom. On the other hand, true freedom, full and concrete, always sets us free (cf. 1 Cor 10:23-24).

Freedom makes sense when we choose the true good for ourselves and for others. "Only this freedom is full, concrete and brings us into the real life of every day. True freedom always sets us free" (cf. 1 Cor 10:23-24). It is the freedom that leads to the poor, recognising in their faces the face of Christ (cf. Gal 2:10). It is not, as is sometimes said, the freedom that "ends where yours begins", but on the contrary: the freedom that opens us to others and to their interests, that grows when the freedom of others grows. 

Well, Francis proposes: "Especially at this historic moment, we need to rediscover the communitarian, not individualistic, dimension of freedom: the pandemic has taught us that we need each other, but it is not enough to know it, we must choose it concretely every day, decide on this path".

This is the way it is. Christian freedom is not a gift received once and for all, but requires our partnership to unfold in a dynamic way. Freedom is born of God's love and grows in charity. 

Contrary to what St Paul teaches, the Pope noted the following week, today "many seek religious certainty rather than the living and true God, focusing on rituals and precepts instead of embracing the God of love with their whole being". This is the temptation of the new fundamentalists, who "seek the security of God and not the God of security"(General Audience, October 27, 2011).

But only the Holy Spirit, who flows for us from the cross of Christ, can change our heart and guide it, with the power of love, in the spiritual combat (cf. Gal 5, 19-21). The apostle opposes the "works of the flesh" (cf. Gal 5:19-21), which are the consequence of a behaviour that is closed to worldly instincts, to the "fruits of the Spirit" (cf. Gal 5:22), which begin with love, peace and joy. 

Christian freedom, as St. Paul says to the Galatians, requires walking according to the Holy Spirit (cf. 5, 16.25). This - the Pope explained in the penultimate of his catechesis- means letting oneself be guided by Him, believing that God "is always stronger than our resistance and greater than our sins"(General Audience, 3-XI-2021 ).

The apostle uses the plural we to propose: "let us walk according to the Spirit " (v. 25). " How beautiful it is ", Francis goes on to say, "when we meet shepherds who walk with their people and do not separate themselves from them" (ibid.), who accompany them with gentleness and solidarity. 

The Pope concludes his catechesis with an exhortation not to let ourselves be overcome by tiredness, encouraging an attitude of realistic enthusiasm, in the knowledge of our limitations. 

For times of difficulty, two pieces of advice. First, in the expression of Saint Augustine, "awaken Christ" who sometimes seems to sleep in us as in the boat (cf. Discourses 163, B 6): "We must awaken Christ in our heart and only then will we be able to contemplate things with his gaze, because he sees beyond the storm. Through his serene gaze we can see a panorama which, alone, we cannot even imagine"(General Audience 10-XI-2021).

Secondly, we must not tire of invoking the Holy Spirit with the prayer "Come, Holy Spirit", as Mary and the disciples did. 

Thus, service out of love makes full freedom under the guide of the Holy Spirit. And this freedom is accompanied by joy and maturity.