Oh Lord, You made me an element in Your creation. You designed me and created me so I might absorb, radiate and reflect the light, the energy, and goodness of Your Graces. Open my heart so I may absorb all You are giving. Give me the strength and courage to radiate everything I have been given. And, on those days when I’m not up to the task of being Your servant, at least, let me reflect all that You are.
Tag Archives: evangelization
Ephesians 1:3-14 Commentary
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us to journey into Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. God chose us for himself, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. With God’s love he destined us for adoption through Jesus Christ. Through the beloved, God gave us the covenant, the favor of his will, and the glory of his grace.
In Christ Jesus we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, and we are in agreement with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, Christ has made known to us the mystery of his will. With the covenant and with his favor, he set forth his plan for the fullness of time, to sum up all things in himself, in heaven and on earth.
In Christ’s glory we were also chosen, destined for the covenant with the purpose of God who accomplishes all things, according to the intention of his will. In Christ, we exist for the praise of his glory; we who first hoped in Christ. In Christ we have heard the word of truth, and the gospel for our salvation; we who have believed in him. We were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. This spirit is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, and for the praise of his glory.
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day the gift of the Eucharist, our communion with You, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Oh Lord, lead us into the splendor, majesty, and glory of your Word and deliver us from the temptations and strife of this world. Amen
With Science
To paraphrase Bishop Barron, we know the language of the ancient world was Greek. It was the language of commerce, philosophy, theology, mathematics and the natural sciences. Today English is that language, the language of commerce, science and technology. Bishop Barron offers us this; the simplest translation of logos would be tongue, logic and pattern. However, no one in the ancient world would have missed the idea of logos being the word of God. No one would have missed the idea of logos being the principle of divine reason and creative order. Realizing the Bible was not written to us as the audience, it is written to us as believers. So, what have we come to believe? We believe what Bishop Barron has illustrated so thoughtfully for us, that there is an intelligibility of all things and in all things. The Greeks knew this, even if they mislabeled the source, they understood the divine nature of all things which produced the natural conditions in all things. Even in ancient times our tradition took this idea a step further as the Catholic Creed states, He created all things, the visible and the invisible. Therefore, all things have their foundation in the created goodness of love itself. Today, we have allowed ourselves to separate the definition and description from the experience. By not asking “why”, we rely on the so-called definitive answers of “what” and “how.” This obviously releases us from the infiniteness of “this and that and this also”, all the while ignoring the ancient’s understanding that having the book does not negate the author.
We also believe in the objective experience of human life. Because creative intelligibility is built into the very fabric of all that is, even in our human condition we can see this intelligibility in all things. A beautiful sunrise over an ocean of wind, sea and mist is not subject to our frames’ of references; it is beautiful in itself, it is a standalone phenomenon, recognizable to all witnesses, not resting in their interpretation; it is alive and living in the moment as we are being created in this same moment. As we shall see next, this sunrise is as beautiful as all the God given virtues. Moreover, as with all of God’s gifts, they are more than the mystery of knowing.
Just for a moment, just for an exercise of exploration, let us unite the visible and the invisible. Let’s not separate ourselves from the author, let us become imitators of Christ, doing what we were shown to do, whether we understand or not. Let us consider all that is known, all that is witnessed, all that is rationally perceived, passes through the gift of the Holy Spirit, our conscience. The modality of our tradition allows us to understand this phenomenon as passing through our soul, or as part of the natural God given law, or as an experience beyond our unique life histories. It is a unique life experience subject to His divine nature as it is made manifest in our human condition. We are His children and like children we are maturing, yet this does not prevent us from experiencing the excitement and splendor of the moment. It is our conscience which filters all that is, first and foremost. This filter reflects essence, all that is, our ethics, morality, integrity, all the untouchables which have no atomic weight, yet are as real and intelligible as all of creation. Albert Einstein was looking for the “law of unification” an equation which could unite all of the natural phenomenon at any level, in any world of physics, chemistry or biology. I suggest this equation is, God is greater than the sum of infinity, the equation is God himself. It is not a coincidence that conscience literally means, “with science.”