SAINT PAUL VI, POPE (OPTIONAL MEMORIAL)

You were ransomed from your futile conduct.

What do you think of when you hear the word “ransomed”? You might imagine an action movie in which someone is kidnapped and held prisoner until their captors receive payment for their release. If you’re historically minded, you might recall that, in ancient times, “ransom” described a price paid to release a person from slavery. But in today’s first reading, St. Peter is saying that “you were ransomed” (1 Peter 1:18, emphasis added)!

Few of us have ever been held captive. But if we’re honest, we can probably think of examples of the kind of “futile conduct” that Peter says we were ransomed from. It could be resentment that hangs over you like a dark cloud. Or a habit of unforgiveness that you just can’t shake. Or a tendency to complain or react with anger. These sins can seem like foes holding you hostage or keeping you enslaved; you struggle with them, but you can’t seem to free yourself.

Whatever your challenge, remember that “your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:21). Jesus has offered his very life, his own blood “as of a spotless unblemished Lamb,” to set you free (1:19). It’s this life—pure, divine, freely given—that has broken the power of sin and death. The forces that held you captive have been defeated. Jesus himself said that he came “to give his life as a ransom” (Mark 10:45). He has done the work on your behalf, and now he is asking you to do the work of believing in him!

Whenever you find yourself indulging in “futile conduct,” turn to the Lord. Believe in the objective truth: Jesus has ransomed you. Get a friend or spiritual mentor to pray with you. They can help support you in faith. Receive God’s forgiveness and grace in prayer and in Confession. That’s where you’ll find God’s strength to keep going, even in the face of sins that seem hard to overcome. With each act of faith in Jesus’ work on your behalf, you are taking another step down the road toward the freedom that Jesus has won for you.

“Jesus, thank you for ransoming me! Help me to walk in freedom.”

1 Peter 1:18-25
Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
Mark 10:32-45