What anguish Paul felt as he became aware of the defection of the Galatians from the gospel of Christ! He felt as though he was being ripped apart in the agony of childbirth. He wanted Christ to be formed in the Galatians through the preaching of the gospel. That formation would come only through faith and trust of the heart. This was certainly the business of the Spirit. Paul believed that it was not by human reason or strength that anyone should believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, but it was the work of God the Holy Spirit to call, gather, and enlighten those who believe. Paul was certainly a monergist, that is, he believed that salvation was one hundred percent the work of God. Here is the true opus Dei (Jn 6:29). Because he believed in the power of the divine Word to do what it promised Paul was agonized. He could not form Christ in the Galatians, He could only preach that which would form them. His agony could not be alleviated by anything he could do. He had to leave things to God.

Today, pastors still agonize for the sheep the Lord has placed under their care in the same way that Paul agonized. Like the blessed Apostle, we only have the divine gifts to share with them, but we can't make them believe, we can't believe for them, we can't take away their suffering, and we can't keep them from stumbling. We can only be there to pick them up, dust them off, embrace them, and pronounce the good Shepherd's forgiveness over them. If they defect from the church or fall from faith, we can't do anything but plead with them using the divine Word. We feel a wrenching grief, about which we can't do anything but preach. We will say anything we must to call them back to the fold. It is agonizing waiting for the Lord to work His will in people's lives, until Christ is formed in them.