Making a deposit
Dear People of St. Boniface,
At the end of today’s reading I use the image of a bank – very topical. It is not quite obvious because your translation uses the word “pledge”, but what I am actually saying is that God has “made a deposit” of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and that deposit is going to grow with interest until it reaches its full potential, which I call “our standing in Christ”.
Rather than saying that we are “banking” with God; I am saying that God is “banking” with us – he is a creditworthy “customer”, and we are a reliable “bank”! Quite unlike our present pickle! God is paying us a compliment.
My subject here is “being trustworthy” and so I can say that Christ is utterly faithful to his Father, and indeed that is why, even in my time, people were already ending their prayers with the words “through Jesus Christ our Lord” because they saw that this made the prayer “dependable”.
The context is that I had been accused of being unfaithful to the Corinthians. I had had to hurry over from Ephesus to sort out major problems involving false teachers. My visit had gone very badly, thanks mainly to one particular troublemaker. I thought it best to withdraw to allow a cooling-off period, saying I would return, but in fact I then decided it was wiser to send a heartfelt letter – of which you no longer have copies – which did actually bring the Corinthians to their senses.
But to those still determined to be enemies, it seemed as though I had ‘chickened out’, saying “Yes” when I meant “No”. In fact I had responded to the Holy Spirit which was telling me it was wiser not to rush in and risk a second confrontation.
The life of the apostle was never a bed of roses!
My blessing, from Heaven, PAUL.