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Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary Galatians 2:1–2, 7–14
In today’s reading, Saint Paul speaks about two difficult questions in the early Church.
Circumcision.
And food.
At first, these questions may seem far away from us.
But they touched something very important:
Who belongs to the people of God?
Do the Gentiles have to become Jews before they can belong to Christ?
Do they have to follow the law of Moses?
Do they have to eat according to Jewish rules?
The apostles had already answered the first question.
Gentiles did not need to be circumcised.
They were not becoming Jews.
They were becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.
They belonged to God through faith and baptism,
not through circumcision.
But then another problem appeared.
Food.
In Antioch, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians shared meals together.
This was not only about eating.
A shared meal means communion.
Acceptance.
Brotherhood.
Unity.
Peter had been eating with Gentile believers.
But when some people came from Jerusalem,
he withdrew.
He separated himself.
He ate only with Jewish Christians.
Paul saw the danger immediately.
This was not only a personal weakness.
This touched the truth of the Gospel.
Peter’s action seemed to say:
You belong,
but not fully.
You are accepted,
but not at the same table.
You are brothers and sisters,
but from a distance.
Paul could not accept this.
For him, Christ was building one community.
Jews and Gentiles.
Different cultures.
Different backgrounds.
Different histories.
But one body in Christ.
The Gospel is not only a message we preach.
It is a truth we must live.
If we proclaim grace,
but create division,
we betray the Gospel.
If we speak of unity,
but exclude others,
we betray the Gospel.
If we say all are loved by Christ,
but refuse to sit at the same table,
we betray the Gospel.
We may not argue today about circumcision or food laws.
But we still create divisions.
By race.
By class.
By language.
By nationality.
By politics.
By personal preference.
By who is “one of us” and who is “not one of us.”
So today we can ask:
Do my actions build communion?
Or do they create distance?
Do I treat people differently when others are watching?
Do I make anyone feel that they do not fully belong?
Saint Paul reminds us:
the Church must be one table in Christ.
On this memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary,
we ask Mary to help us stay close to the mysteries of Christ,
and to live the Gospel with courage,
truth,
and love.
Our Lady of the Rosary,
pray for us.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
(Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial).