Let Our Love Be Genuine

This is the sixth Sunday after Pentecost. In today's reading -- Romans 12:6-14 -- St. Paul moves the discussion from Law and Faith, to how our faith in Jesus the Messiah impacts and changes our life. Up until now he had been presenting a very detailed and systematic explanation as to why the Law of the Old Covenant needed to give way to God's Grace, received by our faith in Jesus Christ; which is the New Covenant. He wants us to focus on this new relationship with God and the implications it has on how we will live.

"We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us." (v. 6) We are not all the same; each of us has been given a particular charism. One of the greatest challenges we have in life is to recognize and understand the particular gifts given us. The second challenge is to fully develop these gifts.

As a way of transitioning from his discussion of the Law, St. Paul offers us this vivid image. He tells us: "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual (or reasonable) worship." (v. 12:1) You will remember that the central aspect of Old Testament worship was the sacrificing of animals. St. Paul says that our worship of God should be us sacrificing ourselves, as a living sacrifice. Our sacrifice is the deliberate development of the gifts given us. And different from the animals which were dumb beasts, we offer up our bodies knowingly, with our mind and in our heart.

He then offers practical expressions of the gifts about which he is talking as well as how we should use them. If it is "prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness." (v. 6-8)

The first thing that we should notice is that the gifts given us are not for ourselves; they are for service to others. The second point is that it is not simply the doing of a thing that matters; what is more important is how it is done.

St. Paul mentions seven gifts, but unlike when he writes to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 12:28ff), here he doesn't place them in an hierarchical order. Moreover, he mentions gifts in Romans that he doesn't refer to in his letter to the Corinthians, and vice versa. There are innumerable gifts of the Spirit. Let's look at the ones he presents here.

"Prophecy, in proportion to faith." We could also call this "inspired preaching." It sometimes may involve predicting the future as in Acts 11:27-28, but usually it is meant to inspire and exhort the listeners. "In proportion to faith" has a few meanings. The most important is that what the prophet says should correspond to the Faith, the belief held in common, but also to the personal faith of the listeners. It should build them up, not confuse or misdirect them.

"Ministry, in ministering." The Greek word used here is "diakonia;" this is where the title 'deacon' originates. Here it means ministry in the sense of service. It refers to those persons responsible for distributing material aid. For most of the Church's history deacons were primarily responsible for the administration of the material goods of the Church, especially aid to those in need. The Liturgical aspect was secondary.

"The teacher, in teaching." Teaching was and is a gift distinct from prophecy, preaching, or administration. We see this clearly in our Church today. Those responsible for instruction of both children and adults play a vital role in building up the Body.

"The exhorter, in exhortation." Here St. Paul refers to what we would call the 'spiritual father or mother.' This is the person with great spiritual maturity and wisdom, who encourages people as they struggle to do God's will.

"The giver, in generosity." This is the person of means who exercises his or her generosity gently and abundantly. His or her gift is of philanthropy, distributing private wealth with love.

"The leader, in diligence." This refers to the person who heads the community. He is to exercise this gift conscientiously.

"The compassionate, in cheerfulness." This is the person who does acts of charity, of kindness. Too often we do such things grudgingly, out of a sense of duty. St. Paul reminds us to do them with a smile on our face, but also in our heart. The smile is more important than the act.

Then St. Paul sums it up in an almost staccato-like manner: "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. (v. 9-10)

We should never 'fake' our love. Sometimes we may have to 'work at it;' but the final objective should be for it to be real. St. Paul says that we should hate evil. Actually the word is closer to abhor. Evil destroys. We destroy it through goodness. As we abhor the evil we need to cling to what is good.

He says we should love one another. The Greek word is 'philadelphia;' love like brothers and sisters. We need to treat each other as a family; a healthy Christian family.

He continues with, "outdo one another in showing honor." This could also be translated, "As far as honor goes, esteem the other more highly." The greatest danger we face is our own pride. Love each other. Always put the other before us. Think no more of ourselves than we do our brother and sister. This is the greatest of spiritual gifts.

He then says to us (because he knows that we might get a little 'tired' at this point) "Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord." (v. 11) Do you notice how at every point St. Paul draws us to a higher goal? He doesn't simply say: "give;" but "with generosity;" nor "lead," but do it "with diligence;" nor "be compassionate," but do it "with cheerfulness;" nor "honor," but "prefer one another;" nor "love," but do it "genuinely;" nor refrain from "evil" things, but "abhor" them; nor hold to "what is good," but "cling" to it; nor "love one another," but to do it "with the love of a brother and sister;" nor be zealous, but be so without backsliding; nor have the "Spirit," but have it "fervently," that is, be burning and awake.

The simple truth is that if one practices these virtues that St. Paul speaks of, the Holy Spirit will be drawn to us. And if the Holy Spirit is drawn toward us, all of these things will become easy for us to embody. "Serving the Lord" is akin to serving our brother and sister. It is the primary way in which we draw closer to Him.

He then tells us to do three things that are at the center of the spiritual life. "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." (v. 12) When God sends us the answer to our prayers, or when He sends us the good things that we recognize, we should rejoice. These are given us as signs of hope to encourage us. When we suffer difficulties -- "tribulations" -- we simply need to trust in God; be patient. God sends us hopeful signs to encourage us to be patient and trusting. Finally, we need to be constant. Our love of God should not be dependent on this thing or that. We need to love God as we do others; even though someone we love may disappoint us, we continue to love them. Our disappointment in God is only because we do not understand; we need to be even more consistent in our love and devotion as a result.

The Lord, through the wisdom of St. Paul, leads us to a still higher plane. "Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality." (v. 13) Recognizing the needs of others, without them asking for help, is a great gift. We need to not simply 'distribute' but to share what we have. This means biting into our own income. To drive home the point he says, "Practice hospitality." Hospitality was an ancient virtue. It is even more important as a Christian virtue, and remains important still in our day and age. To welcome the stranger into our midst, even to our home, is to welcome Christ Himself. There was no greater sin in the ancient world than to refuse a stranger. It is even a more grievous Christian sin. We are all strangers. We need to welcome one another.

Finally, as a way of summarizing all that he has said, St. Paul tells us: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them." (v. 14) This is the final step. If we can learn to bless our enemies -- those who inflict pain on us -- then we will have 'graduated' from being simply a 'good' person, to a true Christian.

To look at this developmentally, we move from being a child, where the whole world revolves around us, to an adolescent where we only have eyes for our 'true' love'; caught in various forms of narcissism. If 'true' love progresses to a mature love then marriage may ensue. Marriage leads to children, and children require a 'coming out' of ourselves. We can no longer live in the closed circle of either our own ego or the simple love of one person for another. Children require us to come out of any closed circle.

The final circle from which God asks us to emerge is the circle of those familiar to us; those with whom we feel comfortable. St. Paul instructs us how to build the personal bonds that will strengthen us. He tells us, "Bless those who persecute you" And then, he wants to make sure that we understand exactly what he is saying so he says: "bless and do not curse them."

God draws us from love of family and friends, to friends and siblings in the faith, to love of our enemies. We were God's enemies and He loved and died for us. He asks us to do the same to others, if we love Him.

Fr. Nicholas Apostola