Ordinary Time / Twenty-Second Week / Weekdays / Year II
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BETWEEN A CHRISTIAN AND A CHURCH MEMBER

by Fr. JohnBosco Ezeonwumelu · September 4, 2018

⏰Tuesday of the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time 2 (04 September 2018)

📖1 Cor 2:10b-16; Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14 (R.v.17a); Luke 4:31-37

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ abide with you both now and forever. Amen.

My dear, what is really your relationship with Jesus? It is not enough to say that we began going to Church for a very long time now; what impact has that number of years on our spiritual life?

In Christian morality, we have what we call the ethics of doing and the ethics of being. Ethics of doing can be limited to our prompt obedience to the Christian laws like going to Church, paying your dues, saying your prayers and so on. We do all that because the law demands that we do so. But ethics of being is when we have graduated from mere adherence to the law into living out the dictates of the law without compulsion. That is when we follow the spirit and not the letter of the law.

Ananias and Sapphira were members of the early Christian community but definitely did not become Christians (cf. Acts 2:42; 4:32 – 5:10).

Just like the transcendence from the ethics of doing into the ethics of being, St Paul in 1 Cor 2:10-16 reflects on a transcendence from our natural selves into spiritual beings. Remember that before now, he talked about the weakness of human wisdom in understanding the things of God (cf. 1 Cor 2:1-5). He only develops that by telling us that it is to our benefit that we have the spirit of God so that we can know God.

Am I experiencing any growth in my Christian faith or am I just like a stagnant church member that follows others about?

It is not basically about how much of the scriptures that we know, nor how many times we go to Church, nor how often we receive Holy Communion or say our prayers. All those are very good steps but IT IS BASICALLY ABOUT HOW MUCH IS THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN US.

Have a spirit-filled day with the Lord. Peace be with you.

NB: Kindly remember to pray for the quick recovery of my mother, Ezinne Bessy Ezeonwumelu. Thanks in anticipation.