The first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, is a good introduction to the virtue of temperance or moderation.
Our lives as Christians ought to be guided by temperance, which, as the Catechism states, “is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods” (CCC 1809). We are to have balance in the use of food, drink, entertainment, and such. Can the virtue of moderation be also applied to our religious practices? Yes, I believe. The Church, in the first reading, is shown making a decision that moderated, that rolled back the excessive religious zeal of certain converts from Judaism. Notice the vocabulary used here, unless you undergo circumcision, unless you do this, “you cannot be saved”. The people here are making a dogmatic judgement – you cannot inherit eternal life if you do not submit to this particular practice. The Church rolls back, moderates, this judgement. More is not always better. We can continue this conversation about moderation by applying it to the way we practice our faith. Our religious practices, our prayers, our routines, need to be adapted to our state in life. In other words, our religiosity ought to take into account the legitimate needs of our neighbour. Who is our neighbour? The one we are in closest contact. Husbands have wives as their neighbours, and vice versa. Parents have children as their neighbours, and vice versa. Those in religious community have their consecrated brothers or sisters as neighbours. A parish priest has parishioners for his neighbours. It would be immoderate for a husband or a wife to try to adopt the prayer routine of Benedictine monks, regularly getting up at night for prolonged prayer. And by the way, this does not mean that sometimes parents will not be up at night, praying for their children. It would be immoderate for an active missionary to try to adopt the practices of cloistered Carmelites, and try to keep silence in a busy mission station. It would be immoderate for someone to spend so much time in prayer, that everyday things around the house would not get done. In short, everything we do should be done in moderation, even our religious practices.
The Gospel speaks to us of the fact that Christ loves us so much, that He desires not only to visit us, but make His home in us. I think that we all know the difference between a brief visit, and a permanent stay. Christ wants not only to come for a brief visit, but to make His home in us. He desires to bring the Father to dwell in us, as well as the Holy Spirit. This is the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Trinity. The Catechism says, “even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: "If a man loves me", says the Lord, "he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him"” (CCC 260). God delights to make His home in the hearts of His faithful. Still, to make our heart the home for the Holy Trinity, we have to be prepared for spiritual battle. First and foremost, we need to make sure to keep Christ’s word. Then we will need to resist the advances of the Evil One, will continually accuse us: you are not worthy to be a home for God, you are not worthy of His love, you are not worthy of his care. The Evil One accuses and tempts. This is the original heresy, the ruse that the Evil One rolled out with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. He tempted them by asking: can you really trust God? Does God really have your best interest in mind? Does God really love you?
(Fr. Pawel Ratajczak, OMI, May 22, 2022)