Luke 14:1, 7-11

Saturday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 32, 2020

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus seems to have told this parable on the same occasion on which he healed the man from the dropsy.  This parable stands out from the others he has told because he gives practical advice on how to behave in a very common situation, and then uses it to teach on virtuous behavior.  First, St. Luke has us know that Jesus was watching the various Pharisees and scholars of the law deciding who should take the seats of honor at the table.  The way Luke phrases it, the picture is one of a teacher watching children squabble over who is going to stand first in line.  When they settled down, he speaks of the seating at a wedding feast.  He tells the assembled guests, “Do not recline at table in the place of honor.”  This would have taken his hearers by surprise: for some, the whole point of attending a feast was to show off one’s status.  But Jesus puts forth an excellent reason for this: “A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited” by the host, and you have to slink down to a lower position in front of everyone: “Give your place to this man.”  The way to prevent this mortifying turn of events from happening, Jesus says, is to take a lower position in the first place.  Perhaps the host will notice this and raise you to a higher one.  The point Jesus makes is that status is not self-determined, but is determined by the host of the feast.  After all, it is his feast.

The Lord quickly turns this into counsel regarding humility: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  That is, it is God’s view of us that matters, not our view of ourselves, or even our view of others.  We are then to see ourselves as lowly and undeserving, knowing in our hearts that there are bound to be more “distinguished” guests than ourselves, holier, wiser.  We ought to sit so that we can observe them and listen to them with the purpose of learning from the saints.  

This prompts us to think about how we assess ourselves.  We humans assess ourselves in different ways according to what is important to us.  Some folks pay lots of attention to their outward appearance, clothes, weight, signs of age, and to have the right look will spend great amounts of money in attempts to improve these things.  Other people work very hard at becoming the best student or the funniest entertainer or the richest person.  It is very difficult for us to assess our virtues.  We must be careful not to think too highly of ourselves or to become complacent, but also to think of ourselves as servants.  This is what Jesus will gradually teach his Apostles, that they should not be seated at the table at all, but should be serving those at table — “the poor and maimed and blind and lame”, as the Lord will explain in short order.  They are to be the stewards, the waiters, following the Lord’s own example: “even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20, 28).  

If we act as good and faithful servants to those whom the Lord gives us to serve, then, when he comes again, “he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12, 37).

 

 Friday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 30, 2020

Luke 14:1-6

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then he said to them “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” But they were unable to answer his question.

We read and study the Holy Gospels in order to learn about Jesus so that we can love him the more.  The writers of the Gospels write in order to tell us about the One whom they love above even themselves.  We study the laws Jesus gives us in the Gospels so that we may know them, but more essentially, we learn about them because of what they tell us about him.  Likewise, we study his miracles in order to learn about the One who performed them.

In the Gospel reading for today’s Mass we see the Lord perform a miracle, and then hear him talk about it, reacting to the people who witnessed it.  The Lord Jesus has been invited by a “leading Pharisee” to dinner on the Sabbath at his house.  This dinner was attended by a large number of scribes and Pharisees.  The translation here tells us that “the people there were observing him carefully”, but this is not quite correct.  It is better to say, simply, They were watching him.  They were paying attention to him, but not staring at him and taking notes.  Now, we are also told that a man “in front of him” suffered from dropsy.  “Dropsy”, derived from the Greek hydrōpikos, is a mostly obsolete name for a buildup of fluid (hence the “hydro” in the Greek word) in the arms or legs resulting from poor circulation, or heart, liver, or kidney problems.  Stiffening of the limbs and difficulty of movement comes from this swelling.  The condition itself may not be life threatening but the problems it indicates could be.  Jesus was also watching the people around him, paying attention to them.  Perhaps the stiff and labored movements of this man, whoever he was, attracted his attention.  The man himself may have wanted to attract the Lord’s attention to his plight, without saying anything.  The problem he faced was that he wanted to be cured, but it was the Sabbath.  On the other hand, he did not know if he would ever see Jesus again after this opportunity had passed.

Jesus asked a question of the gathering of Pharisees and scholars of the law: “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”  He brings up a good theological question, one not addressed by the Torah.  The Pharisees taught that there existed an “oral Torah”, laws, judgments, and interpretations of the written Torah which were handed down from one generation to the next.  Until it was written down after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., there was room for debate about how it applied to different situations not addressed by the written Torah.  Jesus asked his question, but the scholars of the law, the Pharisees present, and the “leading Pharisee” “kept silent”.  No discussion hummed, no requests for clarification of the question, no words at all.  This is truly worth pondering.  Were these highly educated men stumped?  Or were they afraid that Jesus was leading them into a trap?  But no one dared to answer him.

We can imagine that Jesus looked around at the men gathered around him.  Did any of them look him in the eye or did they avert their gazes?  At first they were all watching him, but now they are watched by him.  Some little time must have passed.  As an answer to his own question, “he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him.”  The healing would have happened instantaneously and the man would have left at once, the swelling gone and the underlying cause cured.  Still, none of the guests responded.  

The Lord looked around him again and explained, “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?”  That is, it would be cruel to withhold aid in an emergency, when one could provide it.  Jesus looks at the problem from the sick man’s point of view: for the very ill, those suffering from a serious injury, those who are without food or shelter, every moment is an emergency.  These do not get a day off.  Jesus does not see the law as restricting movement but as making it possible.  Not only is curing a sick man allowable on the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is the perfect day for doing so.  The law of the Sabbath, properly understood, frees a person from regular responsibilities precisely so that he can perform good works and serve God more directly and generously than possible during the workday.  

“But they were unable to answer his question.”  We see starkly displayed before us the very different way Jesus had of looking at the world and how the Jewish leaders did, and how we often do as well.  Where we see reasons not to do something, Jesus sees opportunities for service.  Where we see the need to cling to power and prerogative, Jesus sees surrendering to the will of the Father.  Where we reel from the demands of obedience, Jesus readily obeys.  Where we see the only answer to our personal problem as the death of an innocent person, Jesus sees a life as precious as his own, and worth dying for.  Where we see the greatest good for the greatest number, Jesus sees how each person should be treated with the dignity to be accorded to one created by God in his image and likeness.  

How can we see as Jesus sees?  We read the Scriptures, we meditate on them, and we pray for his grace.  He will see the sinner watching him in good faith, and transform him into a saint.

 Thursday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 29, 2020

Ephesians 6:10-20

Brothers and sisters: Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.  To that end, be watchful in all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones. and also for me, that speech may be given me to open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, so that I may have the courage to speak as I must.

“Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power.” Paul now exhorts the Ephesians to be steadfast in their faith and to engage in the work of prayer, by which the world will be converted, and to this end uses metaphors drawn from sports and the military to impress on them the earnestness with which they are to do this.

“Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil.”  Rabanus Maurus comments, “Put ye on all the arms of God: as though to say, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Savior is called Truth and Justice.  If the ‘belt’ [of this armor] here is truth, and the ‘breastplate’ justice, then there can be no doubt whatsoever that he himself is the ‘belt’ and the ‘breastplate’.  Thus, according to the Apostle, he himself will be the ‘preparation of the Gospel of peace’, the ‘shield of faith’, the ‘helmet of salvation’, and the ‘sword of the Spirit’, which is the Word of God, the living and effectual Word, more piercing than any two edged sword (cf. Hebrews 4, 12).”

“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness.” “Not with flesh and blood”.  Thomas adds, “not principally”, for the wicked are but the tools of the evil spirits.  Our principal struggle is with the temptations to sin which they send against us. “But against princes and powers”.  Thomas explains what Paul means by naming them in this way: “Inasmuch as some demons led others to rebel against God, they are called ‘princes’. But inasmuch as they have the power to punish those who are subject to them, they are called ‘powers’.  Luke 22, 53: ‘This is your hour, and the power of darkness.’ ”  Thomas then proceeds to ask a question about the fallen angels, “Since angels fell from all the angelic orders, why does the Apostle only mention two orders of demons?”  That is, since it would be expected that the angelic ranks would be preserved even among the fallen angels.    He answers that the names of these two ranks only can pertain to serving either God or the devil. The names of the other ranks, such as the cherubim and seraphim, pertain to the service of God alone.  “With the world rulers”. Thomas emphasizes that they are rulers “of this world, not of creation.”  That is, of worldly things.  “Of this present darkness.”  Namely, of sins. 

“Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.  So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate.”  Jerome considers that the words “with your loins girded” means to live without a spouse and not to give in to lust.  This would be consistent with Paul’s counsel in 1 Corinthians 7, 10-14 for those who are not married to remain celibate.

“And your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace.”  Rabanus compares this with the injunction in Exodus 12, 11, in which the Hebrews are commanded to eat the paschal meal with “shoes on your feet”.  Paul is counseling the Ephesians to run, with an emphasis on haste, on “the Way” that is Christ (cf. John 14, 6), to spread his Gospel.

“In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the Evil One.”  "The flaming arrows”.  Not merely “arrows”, but “flaming” arrows, denoting the devil's ferocity as well as the fearsomeness of his weapons.  The “Evil One” fights with great ferocity against the one who proclaims the Gospel of peace because it is the only way in which he can fight against God.  Thomas  remarks, “The devil fights against God in his members, through snares and falsehoods.”  

“And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  “The helmet of salvation”.  The helmet, which protects the head, reminds us that Christ himself is our Head, for He is the Head of the Body, the Church, who is the Beginning, the First-born of the dead (Colossians 1, 18).  Armed with this helmet, the Ephesians may march into battle and be victorious.  The helmet would also bear some sort of sign as to the king for which one is fighting, and in the case of the Christian, this would be the Cross, the sign of our salvation.  “The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God”.  The Gloss identifies this "sword" with the Holy Scriptures.  It is said to be two-edged (cf. Hebrews 4, 12) because the Scriptures are divided into two Testaments, the Old Testament promising temporal things -- a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 13, 5) -- and the New, eternal things.  The Gloss says that this sword is spoken of in Matthew 10, 34: Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.  The Holy Scriptures war against idolatry as well as atheism.  Paul uses this military language in order to emphasize that, as Christians, they were set at opposition to their society, to their previous way of life, and to the invisible forces to which they had formerly been allied.  Paul also shows that not only are they equipped for their own defense, but they are prepared to go forth conquering, and to conquer (Revelation 4, 3).  

“With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.  To that end, be watchful in all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones.”  Only after this life will humans pray night and day in the temple (cf. Revelation 7, 15).  Paul is instructing the Ephesians to stop at each hour of the day to pray, or at each period of the day: morning, mid-day, and evening, for instance, and to do this every day.  “For all the holy ones”.  That is, for all those sanctified in the waters of baptism.

“And also for me, that speech may be given me to open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel.”  Paul reminds the Ephesians that he and they are co-workers in bringing the message of salvation in the world. He makes it clear that their prayers are necessary for him to be given what he needs in order to proclaim the Gospel.  Again, he impresses on these new Christians their vital connection to him and to all Christians in the world.  At the same time, he does not command them to preach in Ephesus or in other places, as he did.  He sees this work as reserved for an apostle.

“For which I am an ambassador in chains, so that I may have the courage to speak as I must.”  Paul's preaching of the Gospel, even when he was in chains for it, must have seemed insane to observers, since he would be making the state's case against himself.  It would have seemed like a burglar bragging to all within hearing distance about his exploits.  But Paul knew that the Gospel was his reason for living: “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or death” (Philippians 1, 21).  We can also see these “chains” as Paul’s being “bound” to the Lord Jesus through baptism and grace, and through his immense love for him, and his awareness of the Lord’s own love for him.  

We come here to nearly the end of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.  In the remaining few verses, Paul makes some personal remarks and then delivers his wishes for peace for this community.  The Church at Ephesus grew to become vigorous and devout.  In the year 431, a Church Council was convened in the city that upheld against the heretics the traditional teaching that the Blessed Virgin Mary was indeed the Theotokos, the “God-bearer”.

May the grace of God bind us to himself and to one another in the Holy Church.

 The Feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude, October 28, 2020

Luke 6:12–16

Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

“Simon who was called a Zealot”.  The Zealots, as a party, did not exist until the years immediately before the revolt of the Jews against Rome.  Since he as a Christian would not have been welcomed by the Zealots, it seems that this attribution meant “Simon, called The Zealous One, that is, zealous for Christ.  In English translations of Mark 3, 18 he is called “Simon the Canaanite” or, “the Canaanean”, from the Greek kananion, which is actually a Hellenization of the Hebrew qanai, which means “zealous”.  

Saints Simon, Jude, and James, “the brother of the Lord”, are thought by some to be the sons of a woman called Mary of Cleopas who was married to a man named Alphaeus.  This Mary is said to be the “sister” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, making Simon, Jude, and James relatives of the Lord Jesus. That Simon and Jude were brothers may even be implied by the very lists of the Apostles in the Gospels since they are listed together, just as are the brothers Peter and Andrew and James and John.  At the same time, According to Luke, Jude was called “the son of James”,  which might be the Jewish name of the man named Alphaeus, and Simon is not similarly said to be the “son of James”.  Simon is said to have traveled widely in his preaching of the Gospel, even visiting Britain.  The  most widespread opinion of his death has it that he was martyred in Persia.

St. Jude is called “Thaddeus”, an Aramaic word meaning “courageous heart” in Mark 3, 18, perhaps so-named by the Lord, just as were the sons of Zebedee as the Boanerges, the “sons of Thunder”.  The very early Christian historian Hegesippus (d. 180) passes on through Eusebius the tradition that St. Jude was a brother of the Lord “according to the flesh” (as distinct from adoption) and that his two grandsons lived into the time of the Jewish revolt.  He also went abroad in spreading the Gospel, most notably in the Kingdom of Armenia.  It is said that at one point he traveled with Simon, which is why they share the same feast day, even as Saints Peter and Paul, on June 29.  

St. Jude has long been considered the patron of the desperate, and even of lost causes.  This may have arisen as a result of the story Eusebius tells of him curing the king of Edessa of leprosy, from which he had suffered for many years.

St. Jude wrote at least one letter connected with his missionary work, and it is contained in the New Testament.  It is a short letter, in keeping with the usual length of letters of that time.  In it, he describes himself as a servant or slave of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James (the Greater).  The reference to his brother James may indicate an awareness that his brother’s name and reputation were better known to the people to whom he was writing than his own.  He shows a familiarity with apocryphal Jewish texts popular at the time, and speaks of the same problems in the Church as did St. John in his letters and in the Book of Revelation, problems which continue to this day.

Varying local traditions tell us that St. Jude was either clubbed to death or beheaded, either in the city of Beirut in what is now Lebanon, or in Armenia.  According to another tradition, Simon and Jude were martyred together. 

Tuesday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 27, 2020

We are resting the end of our little tour of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, which has been featured in parts as the second reading for Mass over the last couple of weeks.

Ephesians 5:21-33

Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body. As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, because we are members of his Body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.

“Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  Above, in 5, 1, Paul admonished the Ephesians to become “followers of God”, and to this end, in 5, 3-7, he gave counsel regarding vices to be avoided, and in 5, 15-20, he gave counsel on what the one who follows God ought to do: walk wisely, render praise to God, give thanks for all blessings.  Now, he describes the Christian's relationships with his fellow man, beginning with this precept. This being “subordinate to one another” is the fundamental attitude of the Christian, imitating Christ, “who emptied himself  and took the form of a servant” (Philippians 2, 7), with himself declaring that he “came to serve, not to be served” (Matthew 20, 28).  In the verses which follow, Paul shows how this subjection is to be undertaken in the concrete circumstances of life.

“Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body.”  “The husband is the head of the wife”. Alcuin explains this subjection, saying that the woman was formed from the man at the beginning of creation, and so came after him. St. Thomas Aquinas, commenting on this verse, points out that while a lord uses his servants for his own good, the husband manages his wife and children for their common good.  Now, 5, 22 could also be translated, or read, as, "Let women be subject to their husbands as to their lord", and on this, Thomas comments, “Not that [their husbands] truly are their lords, but as if they are.” 

In the verses that follow, note how Paul delivers a counsel that seems to reinforce the traditional ideas regarding authority that formed the basis for pagan society, only to pair it with one that balances relations between the two classes of people involved, with responsibilities on both sides.  His use of this approach is distinctive of his style.  We see him employ it in Romans 2, where he speaks of the wicked behavior of the pagans, but then speaks of the wicked behavior of the Jews.  Likewise, in the letter to Philemon, Paul first praises the recipient for his faith, and calls him his brother, but then refers to Philemon's escaped slave as his brother as well.

“As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.”  That is, each wife should be subject to her one husband.  Elaborating on this, St. Jerome alludes to Matthew 6, 24: “No man can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve God and Mammon.”

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her.”  Ambrose comments, “Wives are commanded to be subject to and have reverence for their husbands, but husbands are taught so to love their wives that they lay down their lives for them, and to have zeal, caused by their love, for their condition and conduct, that they may be religious and holy.”  The sense here is, Husbands, deliver yourselves up for the well-being and salvation of your wives, out of your love for them.

“To sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word.”  St. Thomas, commenting on how husbands are counseled to deliver themselves, quotes Galatians 2, 20, that Jesus “loved me and delivered himself up for me”  asks, “But why?”  He answers his own question, saying, “To sanctify her”, that is, the soul.  Sanctification “is the effect of the death of Christ, and the effect of sanctification [is] the cleansing of the soul from the stains of sin.”  Noting that this “cleansing” is baptism, he continues, “The end of this sanctification is the purity of the Church.”  Paul counsels the husband to love his wife as Christ loves the soul and the Church.

“That he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Alcuin comments that the glorified Christ presents the glorified Church to himself at the end of the world.  Here, Paul may have had in mind how, in Jewish weddings, the groom adorns himself and goes to the house of the bride's father, and then takes her, all adorned, to his house, where they will live together.  See Matthew 25, 31-46, as well as Revelation 21, 3.

“So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church.”  The husband is to show his love for his wife by nourishing and cherishing her, not only providing food and shelter for her, but giving her the experience of his love for her.  Christ nourishes the Church with the sacraments and his providential care, and cherishes her in the saints whom he raises up.

“Because we are members of his Body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” If a man and woman become "one flesh" in marriage, how much more true is it that we become members of the Body of Christ through baptism.

“This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.”  “Sacrament”, originally a legal term for private money or goods that was transferred to the state for (pagan) religious purposes, and later meaning "a secret", is a translation of the Greek μυστήριον (mysterion). This word is derived from μυςτές (mystes), meaning, "initiate".  The word μυστήριον means "a sacred secret revealed only to initiates of a cult", or simply, "a secret", or, "mystery". Paul uses this word here to talk about the unity of the Church -- a unity which is both visible and invisible, hence the theological term Sacrament, a visible sign of an invisible, spiritual reality.

“In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.”  “Fear” in the sense of “respect”, which is the foundation for love.  Paul thus teaches the new Christians how they belong to Christ -- an unheard of concept for them in their previous lives -- through the example of marriage. At the same time, Paul teaches them about Christian marriage through his description of how they belong to Christ, and so shows how it is of a higher order than pagan marriage.

 

Monday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 26, 2020

Ephesians 4:32–5:8

Brothers and sisters: Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient. So do not be associated with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

We continue with reflections on the first reading for today’s Mass, another section of St.Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.

“Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.”  Paul teaches that Christian behavior has its roots in Christ’s behavior: as Christ has shown kindness to us, so we must show it to one another for his sake.  This kindness then is not to be arbitrary or directed to some and not to others, or with any expectations of reciprocation.  It is wholly gratuitous and even undeserved, as was Christ’s merciful kindness to us in obtaining our redemption.

“Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”  “A fragrant aroma.”  St. Thomas states that Paul is referring to Leviticus 3, 5: “And they shall burn [the offerings] upon the altar, for a holocaust . . . for an oblation of most sweet savor for the Lord.”  He points out that the “odor” would not have been accepted on its own merits, but for what it signified, “the odorous oblation of the Body of Christ, the Son of God.”  Then, quoting the Song of Songs 1, 3: “Draw me after you: let us run in the odor of your sweetness”, he declares, “So we ought to sacrifice ourselves spiritually to God.”

Paul now begins to explain Christian morality as it affects human relationships.  First, he states the general principle of this morality: “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.”  Without this principle, what follows would seem arbitrary, and would have no more foundation than the ethics or mores of the pagan population from whom their faith has set them apart.  "Followers" of God, but as most dear “children”.  God is our most loving Father, and so all relationships which are shown to flow from him must be imbued with love and mutual respect, which is modeled for us by his only-begotten Son's Sacrifice for us.  Through Christ's example and grace, Christians live out a life of sacrifice for others, as shall be shown in what follows.

“Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.”  The Greek word translated here as “immorality” actually means the more specific “fornication”.  Likewise, the word “impurity” is properly “uncleanness”, which signifies an inability to participate in Holy things. See the next paragraph for more on “fornication and uncleanness”.  The use of the gift of speech for obscenity, foolishness, and scurrility thwarts the purpose for which the gift was given in the first place, that of giving thanks to God for all his benefits.  The person who recognizes that he has been given gifts naturally wishes to respond in some way.  Without the gift of language, this would not be possible, and a grateful person would have no outlet for his gratitude.

“Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.”  This should read, “No fornicator or unclean or greedy person.”  That Paul mentions these particular sins first, that is, sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness, indicates that he considered these chief among the faults of the Ephesians, at least in their previous lives.   He also warns the Romans and Corinthians against these in his letters to them. The Greek πορνεία was used to denote prostitution (the word's root means "to sell"), as well as any kind of sexual promiscuity.  Paul also lists as sinful "uncleanness", from the Greek άκαθαρσία (akatharsia).  He would have known that this word was used in the Greek Septuagint translation of Leviticus 12, 5 and 13, 11, and in other passages, to denote ritual impurity.  By placing this word next to πορνεία, “fornication”,  Paul makes his meaning clear as to what sort of uncleanness he means. Perhaps modern day consumerism may be the equivalent to the covetousness of which Paul speaks to the Ephesians.

“Let no one deceive you with empty arguments for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.”  The Greek text for “the disobedient” should be translated as “sons of disobedience” or “sons of willful unbelief”.  “Empty arguments”.  This may refer to attempts by the Jews to dissuade them of their faith (See Acts 19, 9).  Or, perhaps, this refers to the Gnostics, who appropriated the Gospel for their movement.  Paul calls those who strive to harm the faith of the Christians “sons of unbelief”, and declares that "the wrath of God" will come upon them for this.  In pagan culture, angering the gods was believed to result in calamities such as earthquakes, famine and war.

“So do not be associated with them.”  This is better rendered as, “Therefore, do not be partakers with them”, which is from the more specific Greek.   Those who partake of their false goods will partake of their punishments.  Paul here particularly warns the Christians of the necessity of avoiding not only the immorality practiced by their pagan neighbors, but also of keeping clear of any activities which would involve the worship of their gods -- which would be very difficult in their society.

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”  Paul's use here of “light and darkness” is reminiscent of Philippians 2, 15: “Among whom you shine as lamps in the world”, written earlier, and, of course, of the Lord's words in Matthew 5, 14: “You are the light of the world.”  John, in particular, was fascinated by this manner of speaking.  In John 12, 36, for example, he quotes the Lord: “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of the light”, while in the prologue in wrote for his Gospel, in John 1, 9, he identifies Jesus as “the true light that enlightens every man who comes into the world.”  While not a dominant theme in Paul's letters, his use of this imagery shows his knowledge of Christ's use of it.  St. Thomas soberly identifies the darkness as “ignorance and error”.

 

The 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 25, 2020

Matthew 22:34–40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

St. Matthew devotes the last eight chapters, that is, over a third, of his Gospel describing how the Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem, made a triumphal entry, confronted the leaders of the Jews there, suffered, was killed, rose from the dead, and then ascended into heaven.  The Evangelist presents the Lord as the true Ruler of Israel, marching into his capital and liberating it from the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, who are insurgents.  In the heated debates that follow the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem, the insurgents attempt to show that he is an illegitimate claimant to the throne of David.  Their cleverest members challenge him with seemingly impossible questions and dilemmas in order to show him up as an uneducated Galilean, but the Lord ingeniously outwits them on each occasion.  The Pharisees even enlist their own rivals for authority, the Herodians and the Sadducees, but these do not succeed either.  This is the context for the Gospel reading for today’s Mass.  One of the more learned Pharisees attempts to trip up the Lord by asking him a critical question: “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

While the answer to this question seems obvious to us today, serious discussion surrounded it during our Lord’s lifetime.  Now, there is no line in the Torah which says, This or that is the greatest commandment.  Until after the fall of Jerusalem and then the return of the Jews from 

Babylon, the question in fact never arose.  As Judaism as we know it today began to form at that time, questions about the law, its modern practice, the canon of Scriptures, and the importance of worshipping at the temple began to come up.  Different schools of thought, such as that of the Pharisees and Sadducees, developed around certain teachers who proposed answers to these questions.  In addition, rabbis who led synagogue services were not trained in any kind of centralized, systematic way so that diverse personal theological opinions were common throughout Israel.  As a result, no authoritative way to answer theological questions existed.  The various groups and rabbis had their own ideas.  The questions put before Jesus were therefore contentious even without considering that they were posed to him in order to challenge and possibly overthrow his authority as a rabbi.

It is difficult to imagine what answers the Pharisees were prepared for, and which they would attack as not being the most important commandment.  They do not seem to have been ready for the Lord to answer as he did: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  St. Mark, in his Gospel, adds the detail that the Pharisee who asked the question was very pleased, even surprised, by the Lord’s answer, and in response, the Lord told him that he was not far from the Kingdom of God.  Mark then remarks, “And no man after that dared ask him any more questions” (Mark 12, 34).  In addition to the answer to the original question, Jesus tells the Pharisee what the second commandment was, linking them as though they were bound together: one could not be perfectly obeyed unless the other was also: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  According to the Evangelists, only the one Pharisee responded.  There was no cascade of ridicule or condemnation as the others intended to make.  In fact, not only had the Lord spoken convincingly, explaining that, “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments”, but he had stymied their attack by quoting and showing the significance of the second commandment: the Pharisees would have further delegitimized themselves in breaking it by attacking the Lord.

To “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” means to show him our love by obeying his commandments at all times, by centering our lives on the fulfillment of his will, and by trusting him to provide for us.  To love our neighbor as ourselves primarily means to assist our neighbor in knowing and loving God — in fulfilling the first commandment.  That is the link, the bond between the two.  Through the Lord’s grace, may we always strive to love him as he desires us to do, thereby entering into his joy.

 

Saturday in the 29th Week of Ordinary Time, October 24, 2020

We continue with reflections of the second readings which this week feature the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:7-16

Brothers and sisters: Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says: “He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men.” What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth? The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.

“Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”  Having established their unity, he speaks now of their diversity, for there can be no true diversity without the unity -- such would amount to chaos. "The measure of Christ’s gift": see, for example, in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, 15, “He gave to one . . . according to his proper ability.”  God, in his marvelous providence predestines each person for a certain amount of grace and native ability for the carrying out of his will in this life.

“Therefore, it says: ‘He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men.’ ”  The Greek text says that “He led captivity captive.”  In doing so, he destroyed the power of death.  In this and the next two verses, Paul establishes that Christ has the right to distribute gifts, and the right to choose to whom he gives them.  

“What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth?”  He descended “also into the lower parts of the earth”.  This refers to Christ's preaching to the dead upon his own death. 1 Peter 3, 19: “He preached to those spirits that were in prison.”  This is commemorated in the Apostles Creed, in which it is written, as it is usually translated, “He descended into hell.”

“The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.”  The Lord joins himself to us in every  way, and in every place, so that he can speak for all to the Father, and act on their behalf.  This verse also shows that The Lord knows all people because he is in each person at the least by virtue of his power in the case of a nonbeliever, and through his grace in the case of one who is baptized and free from grievous sin.

“And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ.”  This diversity of callings, offices, or duties, has a three-fold purpose: “to equip the holy ones”, through the Sacraments and the teaching of the Gospel; “the work of the ministry”, in which the Gospel is spread to the far parts of the earth; “for building up the Body of Christ”, so that Christians are consoled and encouraged (“building up the Body of Christ can also be translated as “for the edification of the Body of Christ”).  Each of the offices or duties that he names plays a role in each of the purposes.  The offices held by certain Christians exist to provide service, not for the mere exercise of power. See Matthew 20, 25-28.

“Until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the extent of the full stature of Christ.”  This verse is not translated very well.  A more accurate translation would be:  “Until we all meet into the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.”  “A perfect man”, in Greek, άνδρα τέλειον (andra teleion). The adjective τέλειον is derived from τέλος, “the end” or “the goal”. The adjective has the sense of “completely grown in all its parts”, or “of full age”.  In this context, Paul means a Christian fully formed in virtue and solidly educated in the true teaching of God.

“So that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.”  That is, the state of the Ephesians or of anyone before they become Christians.

“Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.”  The parts of the body work together and assist one another in the carrying out of some action.  Paul's use of the body in explaining the unity of the Church would work especially well for the Ephesians who benefitted from the work of Aristotle and Hippocrates, and whose appreciation of the human body is shown in their art and love of athletics.  The head was known by the Greeks to govern all the parts and senses of the body as early as the sixth century before Christ.

 

 Friday in the 29th Week of Ordinary Time, October 23, 2020

Ephesians 4:1-6

Cardinals Burke and Viganò as well as our own Bishop Burbidge, have issued statements regarding the words Pope Francis is reported to have spoken in support of civil unions for homosexuals.  Let us pray that our faith in the Lord Jesus may be continually strengthened against all the scandal and persecution that may come our way.

“Brothers and sisters: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

“I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received”.  The translation gives us “A prisoner”, but the Greek text actually sets the definitive article here, so literally, Paul calls himself "the" prisoner.  “For the Lord”: the Greek preposition έν, translated as “in” (not “for”, as here) has many meanings, among them “with”, as in a close association to someone else, and “because of”.  Thus, Paul might mean that he is “the prisoner with the Lord”, or, “the prisoner because of the Lord”.  The Greek δέσμιος, here translated as "prisoner", implies that Paul is “bound”, so, “bound with the Lord” or, “bound because of the Lord”. In either case, Paul is expressing his intimacy with the Lord.  “Call”. The Gentile culture knew nothing of being "called" to a particular way of life, but only of being fated to it.  This "call" means more than a particular series of outwardly actions, but an action or direction of the inner man.  That is, God calls from within a person, speaking in that person’s deepest self so that there is no chance of his voice being mistaken for anything else.  

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.”  Paul speaks here of the “bond of peace” a few lines after he had spoken of himself as “bound” in the Lord. Being “bound” to the Lord is the Christian’s true calling. This binding also accomplishes the “unity” between the members that comes from the Holy Spirit.  This binding is a model, on a very small, human, scale, of that which unifies the Persons of Holy Trinity.

“One Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  Paul emphasizes their oneness in order to console them -- they are one not only with one another, but with all believers, because they are one in the One, the only, the true, the all-transcendent God.

 Thursday in the 29th Week of Ordinary Time, October 22, 2020

According to news reports, Pope Francis has made statements in support of civil unions for homosexuals.  In doing so, he is giving his private opinion.  He is not speaking as a theologian, much less as a pope.  Of course, the major media outlets and certain theologians will jubilantly proclaim that the Church is changing its doctrine, but this is not so.  It is simply a very flawed opinion and is in contradiction to rulings only a few years ago by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Let’s continue with our reflections on St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Brothers and sisters: I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

“I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.”  The Greek word inexplicably translated here as “family” should really be “paternity” or “fatherhood”.  God is the true Father, and all fatherhood is patterned after him. It is granted human men to share or participate in this fatherhood not only in the generation of children but in the intimacy that pertains particularly to a father and his children.  For this, see Matthew 11, 25-27, and John 17, 10-11.  It should be noted that while God is the Creator of all things, he is the natural Father of his only begotten Son, and the adoptive Father of those reborn in baptism.

“That he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”: May you so be strengthened in your hearts in your belief in Christ that he may find his home there and take up his rest there just as he rested in the boat with his Apostles (cf. Matthew 8, 23-24).

“That you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”  “To comprehend . . . and to know” that the “breadth and length and height and depth” of the charity of Christ “surpasses knowledge”.  It is good both to know and to comprehend the extent of his charity: to know the facts of his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and to understand his charity spiritually.  Jerome says that “breadth and length and height and depth” can be understood as the Cross of Christ since it points to the heights of heaven and to the depths, from which The Lord led captivity captive (cf. Psalm 67, 19), and also to the east and the west, where the Gospel has spread.

“Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us.”  The understanding of the working of his will is so far above us that we may be utterly unaware of it working in us, and yet our lack of awareness shows its greatness.  Paul here encourages the Ephesians in their trust of the God who has already done so much for them.

“To him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”  The consideration of God’s providence in the world, in the spread of the Faith, and in the lives of believers, results in the ecstatic praise of God and desire to show his glory by our faith and works.  By spreading the Faith as we are called to do, we glorify him and prepare to join the eternal generations in heaven, crying out to him in the heights.

 Wednesday in the 29th Week of Ordinary Time, October 22, 2020

Ephesians 3:2-12

Brothers and sisters: You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly earlier. When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same Body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Of this I became a minister by the gift of God’s grace that was granted me in accord with the exercise of his power. To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to the principalities and authorities in the heavens. This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness of speech and confidence of access through faith in him.

I find the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians so pertinent to our own times, with so many of us even within the Church feeling disconnected from it and from one another due to legal restrictions, and also in that so many of us were not much educated in the Faith when we were young, and so we are still trying to learn its basics.

St. Paul says, “You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly earlier.”  Paul speaks of the "God’s grace” by which he was converted though he persecuted the Church which had, as he says, as its purpose, the conversion of the Ephesians.  In this way he continues to teach this new church in pagan Ephesus how the members belong to the larger Church, and all that God has arranged and disposed so that they, though Gentiles, might know him.  

“When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same Body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”  He calls them “coheirs” of eternity, “0f the same body”, that is, the Body of Christ, and “copartners in his promise”, that is, coworkers in the Church for the salvation of all.

“Of this I became a minister by the gift of God’s grace that was granted me in accord with the exercise of his power.”  Paul describes himself as a διάκονος (diakonos), here translated as "minister", by which he may mean a "deacon", in the formal sense, chosen by the Apostles, as they also chose and ordained the first seven deacons as related in Acts 6, 1-6.  He may also have meant this instead in the common sense, as one whose role it is to serve food and drink.  Note how in the translation he says that he “became” a minister: the Greek says that he “was made” one.  In fact, he does not make himself a minister.  It is all a free gift of God that he be made one who serves them the food and drink of the Gospel.

“To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ”: “The least of all the holy ones”.  This may mean, “the last of the Apostles”, or he may consider himself "the most unworthy" because he had persecuted the Church of Christ. See 1 Corinthians 15, 9, on this.  Paul may say this of himself so as to say, in effect, "See all that I have done, though I am the least of the Apostles.  Imagine, if you can, all that they have done!"  This by way of teaching the greatness of the Church of Jesus Christ, to which they now belong, by grace.  The “inscrutable riches” of Christ, the vast and amazing wisdom of Christ shown forth in his parables, but also the providence of God in creating man and working through humans and their history for the appearance of his Son in the world, and the manner in which he expiated our sins.  

“And to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God who created all things.”  Not that God “hid” the dispensation, but that the eyes of men, dazzled by the things of this world and darkened by sin, did not see it.  

“So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to the principalities and authorities in the heavens.”  God did not seek counsel from the Angels in devising his plan, nor did he share his plan with them.  See 1 Peter 1, 10-12.  St. Thomas Aquinas looks at the question of the “principalities and authorities” -- the Angels -- learning “through the Church”, and he distinguishes between the notion of the Angels learning from the Church and through the Church, for certainly there was little they could learn from the Church that they had not previously learned from God himself.  But the Angels are not omniscient, and so can learn of the effects of God's grace and providence through the their working in the Church.  Walafrid of Strabo, on the other hand, comments, “It is given to me to evangelize and to enlighten.  See how great this is, that the Angels grow in knowledge, through me, from the many things that had been hidden from them!”

“This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness of speech and confidence of access through faith in him.”  Fate and luck have no place in a world created by the God of the Christians, who counts the hairs on the heads of his servants.  Bishop Haymo comments that “in” Christ Jesus should be understood as “through” him: “Just as God the Father formed his plan before all the ages, so he fulfilled it and showed forth his manifold wisdom through Christ.”  According to Jerome, seeing the Father’s manifold wisdom “through Christ” means, for instance, seeing the little one crying in the manger as the one whom the angels praise, the one whom Herod persecutes as the one whom the Magi adore, the one whom the Pharisees do not recognize but whom a star points out, and so on.

Tuesday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time, October 20, 2020

Ephesians 2:12-22

Brothers and sisters: You were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the Blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one Body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The city of Ephesus was a major population and cultural center in the Ancient Near East, founded by the Greeks.  St. Paul spent some time there preaching first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles.  The church there consisted mainly of Gentile converts although there were some Jewish converts too.  His Letter to the church at Ephesus helps the new Christians there to understand their relationship with the Jews, and also to appreciate what it meant to be a member of the Church, the Body of Christ.  

“You were at that time without Christ, being alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.”  St. Paul reminds the Ephesians of their “hopeless” situation before Christ was preached to them.  At least the Chosen People could hope for Christ's coming, in the long centuries before he came.  The Ephesians were “without God” and could live only for the passing things of this world, very often enduring painful existences simply because death was worse.  For virtually all people in the ancient world, there was no hope to make one's lot better.  The slave would always be a slave.  A family struggling to get a living out of the soil would always struggle.  The Book of Ecclesiastes provides a good picture of man's state before Christ’s Redemption.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the Blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one Body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.”  Paul here sets before the Ephesians a view of God's providence so that they might understand their relationship with the Chosen People.  This helps answer the question of how could they be saved if Jesus was a Jew, and the ones who preached Christ to them were Jewish  in origin and race.  Would the Ephesians not need to become Jews as well, so as also to be chosen?  Paul answers that it is a fact that the Ephesians were Gentiles, and a people distinct from the Jews -- “far off” from them.  But the Death of Christ redeems all men, both Jews and Gentiles.  It is in his Blood that the Ephesians become “chosen”, not through exterior works such as undergoing circumcision.  Paul also may have been conscious, in writing in this way, of the pagan understanding that the gods were localized.  A god worshipped in Edom would not necessarily have power in Moab.  In this case the Ephesians may have wondered how the God of the Jews in Judea could save Gentiles living in Asia Minor.

“He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”  He came and “preached peace to you”.  That is, Christ came through his Church, or, in the person of his Church.  Paul had been deeply impressed when the Lord identified himself with the Church which he was at that time persecuting: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9, 4).  It is essential to keep this in mind when studying his teachings on the nature of the Church.  “Peace”, that is, a harmony between the Gentiles and the Jews, who tended to live a very segregated life, which caused tension.  “Far off”: the Gloss points out that they were distant not in terms of geography, but in terms of morality.

“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”  Not only is there peace between Gentiles and Jews, but they now exist in unity through the baptism they have received.  While two persons or two peoples may live near each other peacefully in the natural world, only the Spirit may create the unity that affects inner realities.

“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God,”  Roman citizenship was much prized in the ancient world.  A person could have it through birth, through purchase, or through military service.  Paul himself could boast of his citizenship, which allowed him to appeal his legal case to Caesar.  Citizenship conferred a number of privileges on the holder, making him very different before the law from non-citizens.  To be a fellow citizen “with the holy ones” meant to have the same “access” to the Father as the holy prophets, apostles, and martyrs.

“Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord.”  Walafrid of Strabo comments in his Gloss: “There is no one so perfect that he is not able to grow”, meaning that our growth into the temple of God ought to be continuous.

“In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  Paul seems to contrast this temple with the great temple to Artemis in the city's center.  Magnificent, rich, and renowned though it was, it remained a dead building. The Church, on the other hand, was constructed of living stones, the cornerstone of which was the Christ who had redeemed mankind and pleaded for it before the Father.  The very foundations consisted of the prophets and apostles, more solid and dependable than any cement or stone.  This reminds of the saying of Jesus that: “He who hears my words and does them is like a wise man who builds his house upon a rock” (Matthew 7, 24).  Nor is it an empty structure, with these foundations and walls, for God himself dwells in it: “For the Lord God Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb” (Revelation 22, 21).