Monday, October 13, 2014

10/16/2014 – Thursday of 28th week in Ordinary Time – Ephesians 1:1-10, Luke 11:47-54

     Today, we hear the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  Ephesus was one of the most important Roman cities in Asia Minor during the time of Jesus.  Many scholars believe that Paul wrote this letter between the year 61 – 63 while he was imprisoned in Rome.   Paul explains that God had a secret plan that was devised from the beginning of creation. Now, that plan is being revealed to us through the revelation we have had through Jesus Christ.  God unites us together under Christ through the sacrifice he made for us.
      The unity we have in Christ is a good thing to think about as we hear the message in the Gospel, about Jesus rebuking.  Again in the Gospel from St Luke, Jesus is rebuking the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy because it prevents the people from reaching closer union with God.  They build memorials for the prophets that God sends, yet they reject the prophets’ message and cause their downfall.  I always amazes me how in our society we love putting our heroes on pedestals, but we always love seeing them fall and ripping them down from their pedestals as well.  Pope Francis, in a homily last year during the Lenten season, had this to say about hypocrisy: “The sign that (one) is far from the Lord is hypocrisy. The hypocrite does not need the Lord, he is saved by himself – so he thinks – and he disguises himself as a saint.”  It is hard to look at the ways we are hypocritical, isn’t it, to delude ourselves and to put ourselves up on pedestals.  May we look inside our hearts today to see the ways that God wants us to change and to be open to conversion. 

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