Word to the Wise
Sunday, July 15, 2012 - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Amos 7:12-15; Eph 1:3-14 or 1:3-10; Mark 6:7-13]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. [Ephesians]
Hymns have a way of summing up a lot of faith and theology! Scripture scholars tell us that the beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians is a kind of hymn which may have been in use in the community. We don't know if St. Paul was much of a singer or not, but in my mind's eye, I can see him belting out a hymn with the best of them. The words which begin the Letter to the Ephesians are a beautiful and rather cosmic description of God's plan of salvation. From the beginning of creation we were destined to be adopted by God through the life and death of Jesus.
It can be a little unsettling to think of oneself as part of someone else's plan! We like to think of ourselves in our Western way of individualism as masters of our own destinies and captains of our own ships. The Letter to the Ephesians doesn't give us a choice! Like it or not, we are part of the "economy of salvation." For some folks this may be difficult. Our faith can be very personal and based on our relationship with Jesus. We are not comfortable with big pictures. We like to think that we have chosen God, not that God has chosen us!
At some point in every year, it seems, my copy of National Geographic magazine arrives with still more pictures of how big this universe is. It can make one feel rather puny. In the midst of all that vast reality, I don't mind being in God's hand and plan. This is what faith is all about. AMEN
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