The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 11, 2021

Ephesians 1:3–14

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth. In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ. In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his glory. 

The opening verses of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians forms the second reading for today’s Mass.  In these verses, Paul concisely lays out for the Christians at Ephesus the doctrine of Divine Providence, which has so disposed that they, born and raised as Gentiles, might become believers in Jesus, and so be saved.  The idea of a divinely ordained plan for salvation did not exist before its revelation by Christ and also through the Apostles.  The Greeks and Romans believed in fate, which pertained to one’s earthly life and death, but this was an impersonal force.  The doctrine of Divine Providence holds that Almighty God, who foresees all things, knows all things, and desires the salvation of all, has planned from all eternity how he will bring his purpose to fulfillment, even accounting for the free will he gives to each human person.  Not everyone will be saved, for some will definitively reject salvation, but all those who are to be saved will be saved: “He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.”  We are chosen by God, and we must accept his choice of us by choosing him.  He chose each of us, in His Son, “before the foundation of the world”.  From all eternity he was thinking of each of us.  He was thinking of how he would send his Son to die for each of us.  And before the ages he intended to join us to his Son, to make us his adopted children: “He destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ.”

Paul states God’s purpose in a few short words: “To sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.”  The Greek word translated “to sum up” is better translated as “to gather up”, although we can also understand this as “to  recapitulate”.  The Douay Rheims, translated from the Vulgate, has, “In the dispensation of the fulness of times, to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in him.”  This translation emphasizes that the universe would at last be set right again, as it had been before the Original Sin, and all harmony restored within the natural world and between the natural world and the world of heaven.  And the final state of the universe would then be greater than before, since it would be “re-established” in Christ, through his obedience, and through his Blood.

It is stunning to think of how each of us is included in God’s plan, and that his plan is for our eternal good.  Let us each take our part in his plan, for the exaltation of his glory and the salvation of the world.