Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 21, 2010 - Thursday in the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
[Ephesians 3:14-21 and Luke 12:49-53]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 the 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. [Ephesians]
The first conference of most of my retreats is about prayer. I always begin a conference with a reading from scripture. This exquisite quotation from Ephesians is the one I always use. It truly sums up what is meant by the "life of prayer." One of the principal messages of the Second Vatican Council is the universal call to holiness which is at the center of our baptismal commitment. "Holiness" is not a word that I have found people eager to use in regard to themselves. There is a common belief that anyone who is a sinner, no matter how little their sins may be, cannot by definition be a holy person! If this unfortunate notion were true, we would have to erase most, if not all, of the communion of saints! We are all simultaneously saint and sinner! For those whose lives have reached the point that sinful and destructive behavior dominate them, holiness may indeed be remote and dim. But the call to conversion and to a close relationship to God is for all of us. If we take it seriously, we must look to the words from St. Paul in Ephesians. The words, "power through his Spirit in the inner self," describe the need for awareness of our essential relationship to God. This means that we do not live our faith as an external thing only but as a complete person. The lines from St. Luke about God making the inside as well as the outside are an apt description. The life of prayer means that no matter HOW we pray (whether with or without images or words) we must pray with a heart and mind determined to reach God. Ephesians reminds us that faith is not an attachment to an outer reality. It is the very presence of God within us. To acknowledge that presence and what it means for our entire lives is what is meant by prayer! St. Paul is expressing his hope for the people who whom he is writing. This is why I begin a retreat with his words because they express the hope I have for the retreatants and their own lives of prayer. It is my hope for all those to whom I minister. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
105 ms
4
