Twenty-Ninth Friday of Ordinary Time

The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

How true these words are for many of us! We know what is right. We believe it. We want to do good and avoid evil. And yet, we fall into sin time and time again. We have our faults and imperfections and temptations that lead us astray. We run away from the good because it challenges us to change ourselves and run toward the evil that is easy. How often do we intend to do some good and then talk ourselves out of it? We make excuses for ourselves and come up with all manner of escape clauses for what we know is good. Yes, we know right from wrong, but between knowing and doing is a vast chasm that can only be crossed by faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior, and total dependence upon God. And it is up to us to translate our interior desires for holiness and righteousness into exterior acts of charity and mercy and holiness.

How can we conform ourselves to what we know is right and good? What can we do to resist the temptations to sin? How can we put the law of our minds and hearts in charge of our thoughts, words, and works?

O Lord, free us from the law of sin so we can do the good we want and avoid the evil we do not want.

Amen.