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From: Galatians 3:1-5

Justification By Faith

[1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? [2] Let me ask you only
this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing
with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are
you now ending with the flesh? [4] Did you experience so many things in
vain?--if it really is in vain. [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to
you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by
hearing with faith?

Commentary:

1-14. It is his love for the Galatians, rather than indignation at
their behavior, that causes the Apostle to call them "foolish". His
love causes him suffering because they have forgotten that only Jesus,
and not the Law, brings salvation. The Galatians should know very well
that they received justification without even having heard mention of
the Law, for the Holy Spirit came upon them prior to the arrival of
the people from Jerusalem (vv. 1-5). All they have to do is remember
the charisms which they received--the "so many things", the "miracles",
which are manifestations of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12-14).

Besides, there is the example of Abraham (vv. 6-9; cf. Rom 4). The Lord
promised him that his descendants would be blessed; he established a
covenant with him and justified him not by the works of the Law, which
had not yet been promulgated, but through his faith. In the same way,
all who have believed and who will in the future believe in God as
Abraham did will be his true descendants and will also receive God's
blessing.

Finally, the Mosaic Law, far from bringing salvation, is rather a cause
of spiritual death, insofar as every precept involves a penalty if it
is not obeyed (vv. 10-14; cf. Rom 7:7-12). Our Lord freed us from the
curse of the Law by voluntarily taking on himself the punishment
merited by man's sin (cf. Is 53:4; Mt 8:17; Rom 3:21-26; 5:6-10). By
reverting and submitting to the Law they would in effect be saying that
our Redeemer's sacrifice was unnecessary and ineffective.

1. St Paul boasted that he preached Christ crucified, even though he
fully realized that it was a stumbling-block to Jews and folly to
pagans (cf. 1 Cor 1:23). The mystery of the Passion, Death and
Resurrection of Christ was in fact the very essence of the Apostles'
teaching (cf. Acts 2:22-24; 3:13-15; etc.), for it was these mysteries
that contained all hope of eternal life and salvation. That is why
Paul adds that, for believers, Christ crucified, far from being folly,
is the power of God and the wisdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 1:24).

Paul had probably described our Lord's Sacrifice with such force and
effect that it had been deeply engraved in their memory--and now these
Judaizers, these deceivers, were hypnotizing the naive Galatians and
causing them to lose sight of Christ: they had switched their attention
from Christ on the Cross to the actions of the interlopers.

St Paul's warning is an invitation to fix one's gaze once more on that
sign which, as it were, sums up all Christianity--the image of Christ
on the Cross, which ever since apostolic times presides over altars
and altarpieces, and places of work and leisure.

2-5. St Paul reminds the Galatians that in Baptism they received the
Holy Spirit and his gifts. Since their Baptism, and not prior to it,
they had experienced the action of the Spirit who, although he is in
all ages a source of joy in the Church, was even more evident in the
apostolic age in which the Galatians were living. So, how did this
life of the Spirit reach the Galatians--through faith in Christ and
through Baptism, or through the works of the Law? The Apostle poses
the question without providing an answer, surely because it is obvious
that it came through Christ. The Mosaic Law played no part at all. How,
then, can they be so foolish as to change the Gospel which Paul had
preached to them?

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Lk 11:5-13
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
5	And he said to them: Which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves,	et ait ad illos quis vestrum habebit amicum et ibit ad illum media nocte et dicit illi amice commoda mihi tres panes
6	Because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me and I have not what to set before him.	quoniam amicus meus venit de via ad me et non habeo quod ponam ante illum
7	And he from within should answer and say: Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.	et ille de intus respondens dicat noli mihi molestus esse iam ostium clausum est et pueri mei mecum sunt in cubili non possum surgere et dare tibi
8	[Yet if he shall continue knocking,] I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.	dico vobis et si non dabit illi surgens eo quod amicus eius sit propter inprobitatem tamen eius surget et dabit illi quotquot habet necessarios
9	And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.	et ego vobis dico petite et dabitur vobis quaerite et invenietis pulsate et aperietur vobis
10	For every one that asketh receiveth: and he that seeketh findeth: and to him that knocketh it shall be opened:	omnis enim qui petit accipit et qui quaerit invenit et pulsanti aperietur
11	And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?	quis autem ex vobis patrem petet panem numquid lapidem dabit illi aut piscem numquid pro pisce serpentem dabit illi
12	Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion?	aut si petierit ovum numquid porriget illi scorpionem
13	If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?	si ergo vos cum sitis mali nostis bona data dare filiis vestris quanto magis Pater vester de caelo dabit spiritum bonum petentibus se