Today is Oct. 12, Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time.
Today at Mass we read these words from St. Paul: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).
In these verses from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, we are drawn into the heart of what it means to be a Christian, not merely in name but in essence. St. Paul declares that in Christ, distinctions such as Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, no longer define our ultimate identity. Through baptism, we are made one body in him. Our dignity and worth come not from external markers but from being children of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ.
This profound truth is a challenge to the divisions that the world so often places upon us. We live in an era where identity is often fractured along lines of race or class or sexual orientation. Yet, in Christ, we are called to see each other, first and foremost, as brothers and sisters, each created in the image and likeness of God and invited into communion with him.
The unity St. Paul speaks of is not one of mere tolerance or superficial harmony. It is a unity grounded in truth and charity, flowing from the cross. At the cross, Christ reconciled all things to himself, healing the divisions that sin had wrought.
To be “one in Christ” requires that we surrender our pride and self-interest, that we cast off the labels and divisions that the world imposes upon us. It requires that we embrace our identity as members of the Body of Christ, men and women who have been redeemed by his blood.
A prayer for God’s mercy:
Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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