“The law detects, grace alone conquers sin.”

“For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.” - Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430: Convert  and Bishop)

Scripture Text: (ROM 7:18-25A)

Brothers and sisters:

I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.

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.

Miserable one that I am!

Who will deliver me from this mortal body?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

St Paul’s epistle to the Romans is considered the most profound of all his epistles. The breadth of themes and the depth to which he explores them is profound. Today’s First Reading from the seventh chapter of Romans explores how the human person experiences division within himself. St. Paul describes this as “the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.”

Perhaps the most intriguing phrase in today’s First Reading is St. Paul’s admission that “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” His words call out the division in fallen man between what the “I” wants, and what it wills. This is not a mere putting of one’s wants and desires to the side, and acting in spite of them. St. Paul speaks of what modern thought might term a “compulsion” that drives the ego. However, he ascribes this acting out of evil the work of “sin that dwells in me.”

St. Paul is not seeking to cast blame away from himself. He’s not trying to say, “The devil made me do it.” He does indeed admit that this struggle is within his very self: “I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin”. Regardless of how fierce this struggle is, or how deep the division it causes, the remedy is clear and at hand. St. Paul’s entire epistle to the Romans is full of thanksgiving to God for the grace of Christ our Savior.