If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now there’s an invitation to trouble! How much mischief have we suffered by people who claimed the freedom of God’s spirit, and that their motives were spiritual and not legal, religious, or even sensible?
The inspired apostle immediately describes the unspiritual life, “the works of the flesh” are:
“immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.”
He will go on to describe the fruits of the Spirit:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
And add, perhaps with a wry smile, “Against such there is no law.”
Years later the Gospel of Saint Matthew would complete the metaphor with the image of a tree: “A good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. By their fruit you will know them.” Sometimes, encountering self-described spiritual persons, we have to wait to see which fruit they bear.
If you're familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality inventory, you might know what "INFJ" means. I am that type and one of our characteristics is to spend our life in search of meaning and, after finding it, to throw off that meaning and resume the search. The lessons we learn -- applied as standards, rules, practices, and habits -- satisfy only for a while.
The history of the Church reflects that spiritual unrest. We build monasteries, but they're too confining; and then mendicant orders, but they're too strict; and then congregations and societies, but they're old fashioned; and then legions, sodalities, and confraternities, endlessly.
No rule of life can satisfy the next generation. Just as human beings have always migrated in search of safer, friendlier climates, so does the Spirit lead us on an endless search for a holy way of life. Always the Spirit is teaching us to adjust to the times and be the Presence of God in our world.
The Spirit of God is like yeast in beer, a fermenting agent that is ever ancient, ever new. Always restless, always reassuring, always challenging, always healing, always stirring up good trouble, and eternally reconciling factions.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.