Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 22, 2024 - Tuesday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eph 2:12-22 and Luke 12:35-38]So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred to the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. [Ephesians]
The vision of the Letter to the Ephesians is large because it identifies the Church with the people who are members. It is not a building or an organization. It is the continuation of Christ's mission on earth - the Body of Christ. This can be difficult to wrap one's mind around because of the tremendous amount of buildings and other non-human manifestations of "church" that exist. It is even harder to imagine that the concept of the Body of Christ goes beyond "membership" in the Catholic Church. It includes all those who believe in Jesus and are baptized.
In civil life, we are accustomed to speak of "the government" as equivalent to the nation. But our nation is bigger than its government. The same is true of the Church. Although the way in which the Catholic Church is led was established by Christ in the form of the apostolic succession, this has been and continues to be the subject of change and development. The current "synod on synodality," which is taking place in Rome as I write this, is an example. The "Church" is bigger than its organization and government. And we are all a part of this "bigger" reality. The Letter to the Ephesians is an effort to help us be conscious of and reflect on the profound effects of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus which are summed up in the Body of Christ. That's us! AMEN