From: Ephesians 3:14-21
The Apostle’s Prayer
[20] Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do more abundant-
ly than all that we ask or think, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ
Jesus to all.
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Commentary:
14. St Paul now continues the prayer which he interrupted in v. 1, to entreat the
Father to let Christians understand as deeply as possible the divine plan for sal-
vation implemented in Christ (vv. 16-l9).
“I bow my knees”: the Jews generally prayed standing up. Only at moments of
special solemnity did they kneel or prostrate themselves in adoration. The Apos-
tle, by introducing this almost liturgical reference, is expressing the intensity of
his prayer, and the humility which inspires it.
Bodily gestures — genuflections, bowing of the head, beating the breast, et cete-
ra — which accompany prayer should be sincere expressions of devotion. They
allow the entire person, body and soul, to express his love for God. “Those who
love acquire a refinement, a sensitivity of soul, that makes them notice details
which are sometimes very small but which are important because they express
the love of a passionate heart” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 92).
15. To “take a name” from something means to derive one’s being or existence
from it, and the word translated here as “family” (”patria” in Greek) means a grou-
ping of individuals who are descended from a common father; it could be transla-
ted as “paternity”, as the New Vulgate does.
The Apostle is saying that every grouping which is regarded as a family, whether
it be on earth (like the Church or the family), or in heaven (like the Church trium-
phant and the choirs of angels), takes its name and origin from God, the only
Father in the full meaning of the word. Thus, the word “Father” can be correctly
used to designate not only physical but also spiritual fatherhood.
The parenthood of married people is an outstanding example of the love of God
the Creator. They are cooperators in that love, and, in a certain sense, its inter-
preters (cf. Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”, 50). Hence, “when they become pa-
rents, spouses receive from God the gift of a new responsibility. Their parental
love is called to become for the children the visible sign of the very love of God,
‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”’ (Bl. John Paul II,
“Familiaris Consortio”, 14).
16-17. The strengthening of the inner man through the Spirit means growth in
faith, charity and hope, which is what the Apostle prays for here (cf. vv. 16-19).
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”
(Heb 11:1); it is, then, a virtue whereby the Christian in this life anticipates, imper-
fectly, the object of his hope — that perfect union with God which will take place
in heaven.
Love follows from knowledge: one cannot love someone one does not know. And
so, when goodness is known, it comes to be loved. Thus, the knowledge of God,
which faith provides, is followed by the love of God, which stems from charity.
Charity, for its part, is the basis of the Christian’s spiritual life. “The spiritual edi-
fice cannot stay standing — the same is true of a tree without roots, or a house
without a foundation, which can easily be toppled — unless it be rooted and groun-
ded in love” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on Eph, ad loc.”).
18. St Paul asks God to give Christians understanding of the “mystery of Christ”,
which essentially is the outcome of his love. In referring to the vast dimensions
of this mystery he uses an enigmatic phrase — “the breadth and length and height
and depth”. These and similar terms were used by Stoic philosophy to designate
the cosmos as a whole. Here they express the immense scale of the “mystery”
which embraces the entire plan of salvation, the actions of Christ and the activity
of the Church. St Augustine interpreted these words as referring to the cross, the
instrument of salvation which Christ used to show the full extent of his love (cf.
“De Doctrina Christiana”, 2, 41).
St Paul may indeed be trying to sum up all the richness of the “mystery” of Christ
in a graphic way — in terms of a cross whose extremities reach out in all four direc-
tions seeking to embrace the whole world. The blood which our Lord shed on the
cross brought about the Redemption, the forgiveness of sins (cf. Eph 1:7). It did
away with hostility, reconciling all men and assembling them into one body (cf.
Eph 2:15-16), the Church. Therefore the cross is an inexhaustible source of grace,
the mark of the true Christian, the instrument of salvation for all. When, through
the action of Christians, the cross of Christ is made present at all the crossroads
of the world, then is that “mystery” implemented whose purpose it is to “unite all
things in Christ” (cf. Eph 1:10).
19. Christ’s love for us is infinite; it is beyond our grasp, because it is of divine di-
mensions (cf. Jn 15:9 and note on Jn 15:9-11).
Knowledge of the history of salvation and of the “mystery” of Christ is ultimately
what gives us a notion of the scale of God’s love. Therefore, it is the basis of the
Christian life: “We know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love,
and he who abides in love abides in God” (1 Jn 4:16). Eternal life will consist in
enjoying the love of God without any type of distraction. During his life on earth,
the believer receives a foretaste of this joy to the degree that he abides in the
love of Christ (cf. Jn 15:9), that is, is rooted and grounded in love (v. 17). Howe-
ver, this knowledge of Christ is always very imperfect compared with that in hea-
ven.
It is worth pointing out that the “knowledge” (”gnosis”) which St Paul is speaking
about is not simply intellectual cognition but rather a kind of knowledge which
permeates one’s whole life. It does not consist so much in knowing that God is
love as in realizing that we are personally the object, the focus, of God’s love: he
loves us one by one, as good parents love their children.
20-21. The dogmatic section of the letter concludes at this point, and St Paul
breaks into a short hymn of praise or doxology, in awe at the divine plan of salva-
tion revealed in Christ. He speaks his praise “in the church and in Christ Jesus”.
God knows more than we do; and, since he is a Father who loves us unreserved-
ly, he is always providing us with those things we stand in real need of; moreover,
he anticipates our requests, “for he responds to the inner, hidden desires of the
needy, not waiting for them to make explicit requests” (”St Pius V Catechism”,
IV, 2, 5).
St Thomas Aquinas points out that “neither the mind nor the will of man could
have thought or conceived or asked God that he might become man and that man
might become God, a share in the divine nature; yet the latter has been wrought
in us by his power, and the former has been effected by the incarnation of his
Son” (”Commentary on Eph, ad loc.”).
In its liturgy the Church is forever giving God the honor which is his due and prai-
sing him for the gifts which it receives in Jesus Christ: in the Mass, for example,
at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer it proclaims, “Through him [Christ], and with
him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory
and honor is yours, for ever and ever. Amen.”
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Luke 12:49-53
Jesus the Cause of Dissension
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Commentary:
49-50. In the Bible, fire is often used to describe God’s burning love for men. This
divine love finds its highest expression in the Son of God become man: “God so
loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16). Jesus voluntarily gave up
His life out of love for us, and “greater love has no man than this, that a man lays
down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
In these words reported by St. Luke, Jesus Christ reveals His abounding desire
to give His life for love of us. He calls His death a baptism, because from it He
will arise victorious never to die again. Our Baptism is a submersion in Christ’s
death, in which we die to sin and are reborn to the new life of grace: “We were
buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life”
(Romans 6:4).
Through this new life, we Christians should become set on fire in the same way
as Jesus set His disciples on fire: “With the amazing naturalness of the things
of God, the contemplative soul is filled with apostolic zeal. ‘My heart became hot
within me, a fire blazed forth from my thoughts’ (Psalm 38:4). What could this fire
be if not the fire that Christ talks about: ‘I came to cast fire upon the earth, and
would that it were already kindled’ (Luke 12:49). An apostolic fire that acquires
its strength in prayer: there is no better way than this to carry on, throughout the
whole world, the battle of peace to which every Christian is called to fill up what
is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Colossians 1:24)” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ
Is Passing By”, 120).
51-53. God has come into the world with a message of peace (cf. Luke 2:14) and
reconciliation (cf. Romans 5:11). By resisting, through sin, the redeeming work of
Christ, we become His opponents. Injustice and error lead to division and war. “In-
sofar as men are sinners, the threat of war hangs over them and will so continue
until the coming of Christ; but insofar as they can vanquish sin by coming toge-
ther in charity, violence itself will be vanquished” (Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”,
78).
During His own life on earth, Christ was a sign of contradiction (cf. Luke 2:34).
Our Lord is forewarning His disciples about the contention and division which will
accompany the spread of the Gospel (cf. Luke 6:20-23; Matthew 10:24).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.