Today’s first reading from Romans forms the basis of the well-known hymn “Amazing Grace.” The hymn begins with the words,
“Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.”
These words are based are St. Paul’s words in today’s first reading:
“Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
Paul describes the condition before receiving this “amazing grace” as wretched. Why, because I do not do the good that I truly want to do.
“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.”
As Paul says, the “willing” to do good is there but not the “doing” because I was enslaved to Sin. Freedom to not only will the good but to do the good comes only through the grace of God that comes to us through Jesus Christ our Lord. God takes the initiative to give us this amazing grace of forgiveness and mercy while we were still sinners. Through our baptism into Christ Jesus, we are created anew and now are no longer under the dominion of Sin but are now under the dominion of God. God has recreated us, and we are born again through baptism. This new identity comes to us through Jesus Christ. We are called to lived out of this new identity and do the good of following in the footsteps of Jesus. This new creation is God’s gift of grace to us. We do not earn this grace of God’s mercy and love; it is God’s generous gift to us. God asks us to live then as people who have been filled with his mercy and love by living lives of mercy and compassion.
Image: “In deep prayer” by Johnragai-Moment Catcher is licensed under CC BY 2.0.