Wednesday 20 October 2021

Today is Wednesday the 20 October, in the 29th week of Ordinary time.
 

The Corydon Singers, conducted by Matthew Best, sing Cantique de Jean Racine by Fauré, a hymn to the invincible power and utter goodness of God, whose fire lights up the darkness, whose grace overcomes all evil.
  As I enter into prayer today, I trust myself to that grace, to that powerful goodness.
  I place myself in the hands of my loving God.

Today’s reading is from St Paul’s letter to the Romans.
 

Romans 6:12-18

Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.


What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

“Brought from death to life.”
  Sit with that thought for a moment.
  An image of death...
  An image of life...
  Move in your imagination from one to the other.
 

“Not under law but under grace.”
  Do I live my life unwittingly, but actually predominantly, by rules and regulations, terms and conditions, that I impose on myself, or on other people? Can I open up this gift of grace?
  Allow it to settle on me?
  Live under its influence?
 

As I hear the passage again, I might consider how I want to “present myself to God”.

As this time of reflection comes to a close, I “present myself to God”.
  I speak to the Lord and ask for help to understand and accept this unique gift: His grace.
 


Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.