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.