OCTOBER
20, 2010- WEDNESDAY OF 29TH WEEK: EPHESIANS 3:2-12
TO ME WAS GIVEN THE GRACE TO PREACH THE UNFATHOMABLE RICHES OF CHRIST. The Epistle to the Ephesians is a work intended for various Churches and envisages a wide audience. Much less personal in tone than other letters of the Apostle, it is best understood as an Encyclical treatise that has a double theme: Christ and his Church are presented in some detail and with obvious enthusiasm. Indeed, Christ is displayed as more than the founder of the Church, he forms a single whole with all his members, being inextricably united with them. He is the head of all the parts that make up the body. Paul is concerned that the many gentiles entering the community of believers are taking life too easily, continuing ways learned in the world. Addressing this situation is one of the reasons Paul’s message is so timely today when such a large percentage of Catholics choose rather to adapt to the values and ways of the liberal majority, even in matters clearly counter to the Church’s firm and traditional teaching. There is nothing new in this corrupting influence except the words; Paul encountered it repeatedly in his travels, and warned against going along with the seductive arguments of the early Gnostics whose teaching led many to feel secure while living a life of sexual indulgence. Paul will have none of such easy morality. He writes: “Let no one seduce you with empty words. Do not associate with such people.” (5:6)
A further feature of Paul’s teaching has implication for Christian prayer and activities. He does not confine himself to warning against falling under the influence of such misleading views, but presents the high and noble vision of the way revealed by Jesus in his teaching and by his actions. He here asserts with enthusiasm that the Church manifests the unfathomable riches of Christ in that it already participates in the heavenly life of the glorified Lord Jesus. The mystery that has been revealed to Paul and stands at the center of his preaching is that we gentiles are called along with the Jews to inherit the new life as children of God. The riches that Christ has won for us consist in our belonging to the body of Christ. This gift of God’s grace is the basis of confidence that we can draw near to God himself. By our faith in the risen Lord we are able to enter into the very life of God even now. The fullness of Christian prayer does not stop at making petitions however necessary and noble they are; rather, prayer is to take us into the presence of God and so affect us that we begin to become familiar with Him and associates of the saints. This prayer leads to the formation of our inner self that prepares us for life with God face to face in eternity. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks of this process as a radical restructuring, a metamorphosis. He speaks with heartfelt verve in these words: “All of us with unveiled face reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord and are transformed tin his image from glory to glory.” (3:18)
As the human race advances in history, deeply embedded in
the evolving cosmic processes, and the ever shifting forms of nature and
society, underlying tendencies, functioning at deeper levels assume fresh forms
of expression. Already in his day
This surpassing gift of God's merciful love is what we celebrate in the Eucharist we are offering here today, in thanksgiving for this grace of this revelation, to the praise of his glory. May we prove faithful to the invitation to holiness implicit in this sacrament. ?
Go to index page