Feast of St. Teresa of Avila

The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). While some saints contributed in missionary works, St. Teresa contributed in the spirituality tradition. She was a mystic and went through many ecstatic visions. Her life has demonstrated the importance of prayers for our spiritual union with God, our Creator and Redeemer. In fact, each of us is uniquely endorsed with different talents and tendencies. Some people may approach God through scientific researches. Others may encounter God through artistic creations. While some approach God intellectually, others would very much like to embrace Him forever. St. Teresa has taught us to pray, to be united with God.
St. Teresa, pray for us who seek God through meditation. Amen.
Today, I finish reading the epistle to the Galatians, for the first time.  I'm sure I will be reading it again in the future. Here, one will find many Pauline ideas which would be more fully developed in epistles he wrote later. If we do not hold back some Pauline verses, I wonder how the Protestants can insist that Paul taught that we are saved by faith and faith alone. Charity does not have any role to play in our justification before God. They will be eager to quote the following verse.
yet (we) who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified (Galatians 2:16).
So, what did Paul object, works of the law or charity?
All along, Paul was trying to dissuade the Galatian Christians from following the persuasions of the Judaizers who advocated the observance of the Torah (works of the law) such as circumcision, keeping Sabbath etc. Paul wanted the Galatian Christians to have none of these. Yet, would Paul object to works of charity? Read these.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:6).
If circumcision, i.e. works of the law, is of no avail, does it mean faith in Christ (there is no need of circumcision, i.e. uncircumcision) will save? No! Paul said neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail. Law or faith alone is no enough. It must be faith working through love, putting faith into action, that brings justification.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14)
Keeping the law alone is not enough. The works must be motivated, supported by love.
Having faith alone is not enough. It must be animated by love.
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).
I think I have picked up enough Pauline verses in Galatians to show that Paul was not one-sided. He stressed faith in contrast to the works of the law. But faith alone does not achieve justification. Otherwise, Paul would not spend a whole chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13. In the end, he concluded that
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).
The greatest virtue is not faith but love.
Two questions remain in these daily reflections. Firstly, why did Paul quote from Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint? What benefits would it bring to the Gentile audience? Secondly, how much did Paul translate the text himself and how much did he lift from the Septuagint?
I have to admit that I don't know the answers to both questions. As for the Old Testament texts in Galatians, the author lifted the texts nearly completely from Septuagint. Whereas, in other Pauline letters such as 1 Corinthians,  the author would translate/quote from memory some of the texts himself, especially the Torah. Does it mean the 2 epistles were not authored by Paul but by other big guns? If quotation can tell the difference between the two Paul's, then, it would be an interesting research topic to highlight the different ways Pauline epistles quoted the Old Testament. Probably, this can be an indicator of who actually wrote the epistle concerned.

My dear Advocate, enlighten us and teach us to see things from several perspectives. We wish to come close to You. Amen.