Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 25, 2018 - Thursday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eph 3:14-21 and Luke 12:49-53]THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018. 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 name, 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 fill with all the fullness of God. [Ephesians] The scriptures are rich in prayer. The psalms, the Lord’s Prayer, the Prologue to the Gospel According to John - all these are examples. But the prayer from Ephesians that forms the first scripture for today is truly one of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible. It moves me not only because I would wish for what is prayed for in it, but also because it is what I would wish for any of my Beloved Congregation, and especially for the many wonderful students that I meet as part of our campus ministry at Texas Tech University. It is distressing to read about the religious indifference that can set in after an intensive four years of undergraduate education (or even before that) and involvement in a great Catholic campus ministry. At parish missions, the most common request I get is to pray for the children of parents and grandparents. “My grandchildren are not even baptized!” I know that some of the reason for this is the failure of “the Church” to provide adequate support for young adults after the undergrad years. Many of them report feeling unwelcome in local parishes and that the liturgy and preaching are not adequate to their needs. The “mega churches” with their comprehensive ministries become their refuge of last resort before simply becoming part of the “spiritual but not religious” outlook that secularism offers. The beauty of the prayer in Ephesians goes unrealized. The terrible challenges of the recent sex abuse coverup crisis are a call not just to reform episcopate and other clergy. They are a call to take a very deep and honest look at ourselves and how we make the faith possible for the future generations. Liturgy, especially preaching, has to be welcoming along with a sense of community and care for those in need. The current political polarization in our country cries out for a reconciling and healing church that can make possible the prayer in Ephesians. Nothing less than the future of the Body of Christ is at stake. AMEN
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