EXTREME UNCTION

“I went to extremes.” —Galatians 1:13

Paul “went to extremes in persecuting the Church of God and tried to destroy it” (Gal 1:13). He had an “excess of zeal” (Gal 1:14), which means he was extremely extreme. He described himself “as an extreme case” (1 Tm 1:16). Paul was an extremist.

Many of you reading this are also extremists. You may tend to go to extremes in eating, working, buying, worrying, fearing, drinking, watching TV or staring at your handheld electronic device. Although the current direction of your extremism may be a curse, it can become a blessing. If, like Paul by God’s grace, you can direct your extremism away from self-indulgence, self-destruction, and opposition to God’s work, you will be able to use your extremism for the building of God’s kingdom.

Jesus was and is an Extremist. He was so extreme that He became a Man and died on the cross because of love for us (see Phil 2:7-8). He commands us to love Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength (Lk 10:27). What’s more extreme than “all”? He gives us His Body and Blood under the appearance of bread and wine. Did you ever hear anything so far-out, so extreme?

Jesus loves us extremely. What more can He do? We must go to extremes to love Him in return.

Prayer: Father, You went to extremes in giving Your Son for our salvation. I love and thank You.

Promise: Mary “seated herself at the Lord’s feet and listened to His words.” —Lk 10:39

Praise: Pope Urban II, during his youth, was a student of St. Bruno. After Urban ascended to the papacy, he summoned his former teacher to Rome. Bruno became the Pope’s Confessor. He wrote “Almighty God will inscribe in your hearts with His finger not only His love but also the knowledge of His holy law.”