Rom 8:12-17 / Lk 13:10-17
At times life can lie heavily upon us, not only the troubles that make their way into every life, but also our own sins and failures. More than once St. Paul expressed his own frustrations with himself. On the one hand, he knew Jesus so well and knew what following him means, and on the other hand he stumbled on that path and at least temporarily wandered in other directions. It distressed him mightily, for the more sensitive and principled a person is, the more those falls hurt.
The often oppressive reality of our own limits and failings can at times cause us to wonder how God could really like us or be willing to give us another chance, much less take us to his own heart. That’s why St. Paul is trying to reassure us in today’s Epistle to the Romans. The Lord didn’t give us “a spirit of slavery to send (us) back into fear, but a spirit of adoption through which we cry out, ‘Father!’ The Spirit himself gives witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Trust that Spirit who dwells within you, and especially on those days when your own spirit is weary, remember to cry out with all your heart, “Father!”
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