Become like me,
because I became like you,
sisters and brothers
I beg you. 

You did not wrong me in any way. 

And you know that because of a weakness 
        I preached the gospel to you at first. 
And your trouble in my flesh
you did not despise or reject,
but you received me
          as an angel of God, 
          as Christ Jesus. 

So where is your blessing?

For I bear witness to you that
      if it was possible 
       having dug out your eyes
you would have given them to me.

So then have I become your enemy speaking the truth to you?

They seek you eagerly 
not nobly
and they want to exclude you
so you would seek them. 

But it is a noble thing to be sought 
nobly
at all times,
and not only
when I have been with you. 

My children, I am suffering birth pains, again,
until Christ is formed in you all.

I have wished to be present with you until now
        and to change my tone of voice,
because I am perplexed by you. 

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

But then you,
          while you did not know God
were slaves to the things by nature not gods,
but now
            having come to know God, 
    (or rather having come to be known by God)
how can you turn again to the weak and poor elemental forces
which once again you want to serve?

You observe days and months and seasons and years!

I fear for you, that somehow I have been working in vain for you.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Now, I say,
for as much time as the heir is under age,
in no way do they differ from a slave
even though they are master of everything –
but they are under a guardian
and trustee
until the age set by the father.

So we also,
when we were under age
were enslaved by the elemental forces of the world

But in  the fullness of time,
God sent out his Son, 
(a) having been born of a woman
(b) having been born under the Jewish law~
(b) so that he might set free those under the Law
(a) so that we might receive adoption. 

And because we are sons and daughters, 
God sent out the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts 
calling 
‘Abba Father.’

So that you (each one!) are no a longer slave
but a son or a daughter.

And if a sons or a daughter
then an heir
through God.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

But before the coming of the faith 
we were kept under guard by Law
being imprisoned
until the coming faith was  revealed.

So that the Jewish Law became our child-minder
until Christ, 
so that we might be declared righteous
on the basis of faith.

And the faith having come
we are no longer under the child-minder. 

For you all are daughters and sons of God,
through faith,
in Christ Jesus.

For as many as you were baptised into Christ,
put on Christ.

For there is no Jew nor Gentile, 
there is no slave nor free
there is no ‘male and female.’

For you all one in Christ Jesus. 

If you are Christ’s
then you are the seed of Abraham
and inheritors
according to the promise.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

So why the Law?

It was added because of transgressions,
          until the one who is the seed came,
                    to whom it had been promised 
having been given through angels, 
         by the hand of a mediator.

But he is not the mediator of (the) one, but God is one. 

Therefore is the Jewish Law against the promises of God?
By no means!

For if a Law had been given which was able to give life,
then indeed righteousness  was from the Jewish Law.

But Scripture imprisoned all things under Sin, 
so that the promise
          on the basis of  the faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to those who believe.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

Brothers and sisters,
speaking humanly,
no-one cancels or adds to a human will, it having been ratified.

But the promises
have been spoken to Abraham and to his seed. 
not spoken to his seeds, 
as to many but as to one.
‘And to his seed,’who is Christ.
But I am saying this:
the Jewish Law which came into effect
four hundred and thirty years later
does not cancel
a promise
having been made previously by God,
so as to render the promise ineffective. 

For if the inheritance is on the basis of the Jewish Law,
it is no longer on the basis of promise, 

But God graciously gives to Abraham through promise. 

So why the Law?…

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

For whoever (lives) on the basis of  the Jewish Law, 
  is under a curse.
For it has been written:
‘Everyone is under a curse
      who does not keep within all that has been written
              in the book of the Law
to do those things.’ (Dt 27:26)

But, because by the Jewish Law
no one is declared righteous before God
clearly  ‘The righteous person will live from faith.’ (Hab 2:4)

But the Law is not based on faith,
but the ‘one who does these things will live by them.’  (Lev18:15)

Christ has bought us back,
      out from the curse of the Jewish Law,
having become a curse for us,
because it is written:
      ‘Under the curse is everyone who hangs on a tree‘ (Dt 21:23)
so that the blessing of Abraham
(promised) to the pagan nations
might come about
              in Christ Jesus, 
so that we (all?) might receive the promise of the Spirit,
            through faith. 

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

Just as Abraham  believed in God,
      and it was counted to him as righteousness
now you know that those of faith,
          these are the children of Abraham.
And Scripture having foreseen
          that God declared righteous the pagan nations by faith,
preached ahead of time to Abraham:
          ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’
so that those of faith will be blessed together with Abraham.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

You brainless Galatians, 
who put a spell on you all,
to whom, 
visibly ,
Jesus Christ has been displayed crucified?

I want only 
to find out this from you:

On the basis of the works of the Jewish law
did you receive the Spirit –

or 
from believing
on the basis of what you heard?

Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit
now you finish with the flesh?

Did you experience so many things in vain?

If indeed it was in vain!?

Does the one who supplies you the Spirit and works powerfully among you
do so on the basis of works or on the basis of what you heard?

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

If then,
   seeking to be declared righteous in Christ
we have been found to be sinners
then Christ is a servant of sin. 
Certainly not!

For if those things 
which I tore down
I build up again, 
I prove myself a lawbreaker. 

For I died 
             through the Jewish Law
with regard to the Jewish Law.,
so that I might live with regard to God. 

I have been crucified with Christ.

I live 
but no longer I
but Christ lives in me.
But (the life) which I now live in the body,
I live in the faithfulness of the Son of God 
who loved me
and gave himself for me. 

I am not rejecting the grace of God.

For if being righteous (comes) through the Jewish Law, 
then Christ died for nothing.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)