The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today encourage us to continue to explore the possibilities presented by the Spirit to grow truth, beauty, and love through our relationships on our journey.
The reading from the Letter to the Ephesians describes the Christian Household.
* [5:21–33] The apostle exhorts married Christians to a strong mutual love. Holding with Gn 2:24 that marriage is a divine institution (Eph 5:31), Paul sees Christian marriage as taking on a new meaning symbolic of the intimate relationship of love between Christ and the church. The wife should serve her husband in the same spirit as that of the church’s service to Christ (Eph 5:22, 24), and the husband should care for his wife with the devotion of Christ to the church (Eph 5:25–30). Paul gives to the Genesis passage its highest meaning in the light of the union of Christ and the church, of which Christlike loyalty and devotion in Christian marriage are a clear reflection (Eph 5:31–33). (Ephesians, CHAPTER 5, n.d.)
Psalm 128 praises the Happy Home of the Faithful.
* [Psalm 128] A statement that the ever-reliable God will bless the reverent (Ps 128:1). God’s blessing is concrete: satisfaction and prosperity, a fertile spouse and abundant children (Ps 128:2–4). The perspective is that of the adult male, ordinarily the ruler and representative of the household to the community. The last verses extend the blessing to all the people for generations to come (Ps 128:5–6). (Psalms, PSALM 128, n.d.)
The Gospel of Luke presents the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast.
* [13:18–21] Two parables are used to illustrate the future proportions of the kingdom of God that will result from its deceptively small beginning in the preaching and healing ministry of Jesus. They are paralleled in Mt 13:31–33 and Mk 4:30–32. (Luke, CHAPTER 13, n.d.)
Candice Tucci, OSF, comments that It seems Paul missed how Jesus raised women up recognizing their dignity in a patriarchal culture. He made counter-cultural efforts to bring about equality, raising up the lowly and caring for women and children.
I believe the vision of church as the people of God is to be a Church that Pope Francis promotes as Synodality. Relationships bound in love, respect, and reverence for one another and to share in the leadership, enter into conversation, respectful listening, and participate in decision making regardless of race, culture, or gender identity. When Pope Francis celebrated the opening Mass for the Synod on Synodality he said, Let us not soundproof our hearts; let us not remain barricaded in our certainties. So often our certainties can make us closed. Let us listen to one another.
Paul says, this is all a great mystery. We live in great mystery. In the depth of this mystery can we imagine the reign of God realized in a Church that expands like the mustard seed or a batch of dough? Rich in diversity and all nourished through the Eucharist? People living, loving, caring peacefully in unity, equally, and wanting for nothing? This is our invitation. Like St. Paul, let the Spirit knock us off our horses, open our eyes and ears to build a new WORLD into being—a whole living Body of Christ. Each of us bringing unique gifts for the fulfillment of the Reign of God. (Tucci, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The Word of God operates in us like leaven,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"The leaven is small in quantity, yet it immediately seizes the whole mass and quickly communicates its own properties to it. The Word of God operates in us in a similar manner. When it is admitted within us, it makes us holy and without blame. By pervading our mind and heart, it makes us spiritual. Paul says, 'Our whole body and spirit and soul may be kept blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The God of all clearly shows that the divine Word is poured out even into the depth of our understanding... We receive the rational and divine leaven in our mind. We understand that by this precious, holy and pure leaven, we may be found spiritually unleavened and have none of the wickedness of the world, but rather be pure, holy partakers of Christ."(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 96) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Ephesians 5:21-33 comments that God wants us to put other people’s needs and concerns ahead of our own and to “lay down” our lives for each other (John 15:13). If we can do that, then all our relationships—especially with our spouses—will be marked by unity, peace, and love.
What might this look like in real life? In marriage, first and foremost, it doesn’t involve letting your spouse take advantage of you or make unreasonable demands—or doing those things yourself. But in any relationship, it could mean listening attentively while the other person lets off steam about challenges at work. It could mean no longer insisting on getting your own way. It could mean working on coming together in unity when your paths seem to begin diverging. And it could mean trying to forgive long-standing hurts and overcome deep-seated resentments.
In other words, the call to be subordinate to one another is just part of Jesus’ call to love one another as Jesus loves us. Actually, it all boils down to love: letting Jesus’ all-encompassing, unconditional love overcome our selfishness so that we can show that same love to the people around us. Especially those closest to us.
So how will you “be subordinate” today?
“Come, Lord, and make us one in your love!” (Meditation on Ephesians 5:21-33, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler compares the household instructions in Ephesians to standard Stoic teaching in the culture of the time. In this passage there is a non-Stoic call for mutual obligation as a symbol of the union between Christ and the Church. Friar Jude reminds us that small acts of Christian witness can have a great impact even as the mustard plant as a weed takes over the garden and the Kingdom takes over with the contagion of Love.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee who founded a women’s nonviolent peace movement that helped stop the second Liberian civil war in 2003.
Three days a week for six months, the women of WIPNET [Women in Peacebuilding Network] went out to meet with the women of Monrovia; we went to the mosques on Friday at noon after prayers, to the markets on Saturday morning, to two churches every Sunday. . . . We gave all our sisters the same message: Liberian women, awake for peace! . . .
It wasn’t always easy. Women who have suffered for nearly as long as they can remember come to a point where they look down, not ahead. But as we kept working, women began to look up and listen. No one had spoken to them this way before.
We handed out flyers: WE ARE TIRED! WE ARE TIRED OF OUR CHILDREN BEING KILLED! WE ARE TIRED OF BEING RAPED! WOMEN, WAKE UP—YOU HAVE A VOICE IN THE PEACE PROCESS! . . .
As the women of WIPNET gathered together, my fear, depression and loneliness were finally, totally, wiped away. Others who felt the way I did stood beside me; I wasn’t alone anymore. And I knew in my heart that everything I had been through, every pain, had led me to this point: leading women to fight for peace was what I was meant to do with my life. (Rohr, n.d.)
We are informed by the Spirit as we apply our experience of relationships in humanity to growing the Kingdom of God.
References
Ephesians, CHAPTER 5. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ephesians/5?21
Luke, CHAPTER 13. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/13?18
Meditation on Ephesians 5:21-33. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/10/25/520034/
Psalms, PSALM 128. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/128?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/women-working-for-peace-2022-10-25/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=oct25
Tucci, C. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/102522.html
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