The good that I want to do I do not do; the evil that I don’t want to do, that’s what I do. Paul of Tarsus (Tarsus, Cilicia 5-10 AD. Rome, 58-67)
29
Sep
Reading from the letter of the apostle Saint Paul to the Romans (7,18-25a): I know very well that what dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, is not good; because I have it at hand to want what is good, but to do it, I do not. The good that I want to do I do not do; the evil that I don’t want to do, that’s what I do. So, if I do precisely what I do not want, it is a sign that it is not I who acts, but the sin that dwells in me. When I want to do good, I inevitably find evil on my hands. In my interior I delight in the law of God, but I perceive in my body a different principle that wars against the law that my reason approves, and makes me a prisoner of the law of sin that is in my body. Woe to me! Who will free me from this body prey to death? God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and I thank him.
