Could Jesus have been talking about Purgatory in today’s Gospel reading? He talks about being thrown into prison and how “you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.” In its deeper spiritual meaning, this could well be a reference to Purgatory.
Like me, St. Paul struggled with sin. He was trying his best to live a godly, holy life. Sometimes he failed. Sound familiar? He describes his struggle like this in today’s first reading from Romans 7: “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….I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.”
Evil is, indeed, always at hand. And we have the choice in every decision to choose the good or the evil. The old image is quite accurate of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. While it may be a struggle, with God’s grace we can make the right choice.
Father, we’re so sorry that we don’t do the good we want but the evil we don’t want. Help us to choose good, to choose you and your will in every situation. Amen.
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