Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 434

From the day we heard about you, we do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might,for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.

Here is another of Saint Paul’s ponderously long sentences. It wants to be pondered. I have heard it said that an adolescent brain is like a bucket of gasoline. Touch a burning idea to this brain and it will explode with enthusiasm. Saint Paul’s brain, even in his maturity, still burned brightly with the gospel. When he took pen in hand to write his Colossian friends, his ardor leapt up; his feather pen could barely keep pace with his racing thoughts.

First, he assures them he prays constantly for them. Though he has never met them, they are united in the spirit and the body of Christ. Already he belongs to them; and they, to him.

He prays that they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. The Roman Empire was aflame with “mystery religions” that supposedly taught their adherents deep, dark truths through secret rituals and obscure doctrines. Today’s Rastaferians and Rosicrucians might be called mystery religions. 

Unlike the mystery religions, Christianity is not a cult of arcane knowledge. We freely announce the gospel to anyone who will listen. We want to know God’s will; “What am I to do?” Our knowledge is practical; it directs our works of charity.

Wisdom teaches us to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.  In the Book of Ecclesiasticus, Sirach wrote in a prayer,

...you have used us to show your holiness to them….  (Sirach 36:4)

By our private and public behavior we show God’s holiness. If the gospel makes no apparent difference in our lives, as the mystery religions made no difference, we should not profess it.

The Christian wants to be fully pleasing to God. I think of the beautiful woman who will dazzle the public with her dress, makeup and manner to please her husband. She wants him to be proud of her. They want their marriage to be admired. So do Christians live in this world, continually aware of God’s approving eye. Our virtue, integrity and modesty display the Glory of God.

The MSF Picnic

Christians bear good fruit and grow in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might…. Saint Paul believes that Christians are radically different from other human beings; Baptism has effected an ontological change.  The Holy Spirit of Jesus gives us endurance, patience and joy. It has made (us) fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.

That Spirit still raises up and moves Christians two thousand years later, in a world far from anything Saint Paul could have imagined. In many ways, our time is beyond our own imagining.  The Spirit is the same. Of that we are assured. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Keeping our eyes fixed on him, we enjoy the same confidence.