RBWords

     In the Letter to the Colossians, the audience is a community that was once pagan.  The surrounding culture remained pagan.  Paul is trying to encourage them to stand fast in their faith.  However, that obviously is only a superficial description of the letter!  What else is there?  In today's passage, we are given THE BIG PICTURE of the message = a kind of "before-now-later" progression.  The BEFORE was the blindness and ignorance of paganism: You were once alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds.  The NOW is the reconciliation brought about by God's initiative in Christ:  God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable....  The LATER is the perseverance in the faith that is required to participate in all of this tremendous gift:  provided you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the Gospel.....

      Those who participate in the RCIA process for becoming a member of the church are able to understand in a true way what the Letter to the Colossians is saying.  They can see the BEFORE, NOW, and AFTER as a matter of their faith journey.  We who are baptized as infants tend to see baptism as an historical event that we have no memory of other than what is said on our baptismal certificate!   The doctrine of original sin is the only reminder we have of any "alienation."  When I preach a parish mission, I begin with a service designed to remind the congregation of the importance of understanding the BEFORE, NOW, AFTER of this sacrament.  Once we realize that without our baptism, we would not have the riches of our Catholic heritage and community, we can appreciate the BEFORE and NOW.  Then we must face the AFTER: standing firm in our faith so that we may participate in the life of Christ in "real time" and in eternity!  This means reconciliation and service with and to our brothers and sisters in the human race!  This is, indeed a BIG picture and worthy of our gratitude and perseverance.  AMEN