Homily Preparation Notes, Ephesians 4:1-6
From Reading Cornelius Lapide
-- St. Paul beseeches them, based on the many graces that God has already given them, calling them to the faith
-- A prisoner in the Lord: an account of him, on account of the Gospel of the Lord
-- "worthy of the calling": to hope, to Christ, to the church, to the Angels, to heavenly glory... all of this to which we are called
-- "walking" a euphemism for living
-- St. Bernard asking himself often, "For what purpose did you come?"... walk according to that purpose... the Christian according to humility, sobriety, purity,... not pride, drunkenness, fornication
-- called to good works, cultivating the vine which is your soul
-- vocatus es ad bona opera; illis stude, mala fuge.
-- A Christo Christianus appellaris, ut Christum Christianus imiteris: imitare Christum, vive ut Christus vixit, patere quae Christus passus est.
-- St. Jerome: Qui terram et cinerem se esse novit, et post paululum in pulverem dissolvendum, numquam superbia elevabitur; et qui Dei aeternitate perspecta breve, et pene ad puncti instar humanae vitae spatium cogitarit; ante oculos suos semper habebit interitum, et erit humilis atque dejectus, omnis autem humilitas non tam in sermone, quam in mente est, ut humiles nos esse conscientia noverit, et numquam nos vel scire, vel intelliegere, vel esse aliquid aestimemus.
-- Humilitatis filia est mansuetudo... meekness is the daughter of humility
-- makrothumia (Gk.) = patience, longsuffering... slow to anger (from Hebrew "erek aphaim")
-- supporting one another in charity is the only way for unity in the Spirit, who is the Spirit of Divine Charity
-- Galatians 6:2 "Bear ye one another's burdens; and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ."
-- mind and will united in charity, whose source is the Holy Spirit
-- words about a person not being able to undergo martyrdom if he is divided from the Church... there is material martyrdom, but not formal martyrdom
-- the bond of peace is peace itself
-- The hope of your calling is heaven!
-- St. Augustine: "one baptism" means there is no repeating the sacrament
-- St. Paul is inferring that we are all sons of the same Father, and therefore we ought to love one another, and we ought to serve the spirit of unity, for we all move within the church, which is the home of our heavenly Father
-- God is over all things by majesty, power, divine rule, transcendent... by his power and wisdom governing everything
-- Jerome, Theophylact, Anselm: in omnibus nobis refers to his presence in Christians and the just by grace and sanctity
From Reading St. Thomas' Aquinas
-- Notice how he entreats them rather than commanding them... having noted the blessings they have received
-- Philemon 1:8 "Wherefore, though I have much confidence in Christ Jesus to command thee that which is to the purpose, for charity's sake I rather beseech."
-- St. Paul stirs them by recalling his own chains... that he is a prisoner... a friend will sympathize with a suffering friend
-- Sirach 12: 8-9: A friend shall not be known in prosperity, and an enemy shall not be hidden in adversity. In the prosperity of a man, his enemies are grieved; and a friend is known in his adversity."
-- The apostle's imprisonment is for their own sake, so he uses this to put them under certain obligation.
-- 2Cor 1:6: "Now, whether we be in tribulation, it is for your exhortation and salvation; or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation; or whether we be exhorted, it is for your exhortation and salvation, which worketh the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer."
-- "In the Lord" shows that it was the Apostle's glory to be imprisoned, not as a thief or murderer, but as a Christian and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-- Ezek 3:25: "And thou, O Son of Man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from the midst of them."
-- "Walk worthy of the vocation"... be attentive to the dignity to which you are summoned, behaving in a manner conformable to it... yet you are called to be citizens of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19).
-- His list of characteristics begins with humility... so the first vice which he rejects is pride
Points to Ponder
-- listen to the words of a prisoner, St. Paul, a man suffering, a man who will die for the Lord in the not too distant future... he speaks words of gravity, importance, focused... whereas we in our relative freedom can lose our focus, or grasp of what is essential...
-- Paul's status as prisoner is both metaphorical and physical...
-- Parakalw/ ou=n u`ma/j evgw. o` de,smioj evn kuri,w| avxi,wj peripath/sai th/j klh,sewj h-j evklh,qhte, "the prisoner in the Lord" St. Paul calls himself... as if to say he identifies himself as "the prisoner".... consider what it means to think of yourself as the prisoner "in the Lord"... Being prisoner in the Lord is the standard way of life for Paul, whether jailed or not
-- St. Bernard of Clairvaux: "The Saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by tremendous yearning."
-- St. Peter Julian Eymard: "I greatly desire to become a saint that I may be able to make saints and thus procure the glory of God."
-- St. John Vianney: We must never lose sight of the fact that we are either Saints or outcasts, that we must love for Heaven or for Hell; there is no middle path than this."
-- St. Therese of Lisieux: "Open, O Lord, the Book of Life in which are written the deeds of Thy saints; all the deeds told in that book I long to have accomplished for thee. I would be a martyr, a doctor of the Church. I should like to accomplish the most heroic deeds -- the spirit of the crusader burns in me, and I long to die on the battlefield in defense of Holy Church. I would be a missionary. I would be flayed like St. Bartholomew, plunged into boiling oil like St. John, or, like St. Ignatius of Antioch, I would be ground by the teeth of wild beasts into bread worthy of God. With Saint Agnes and St. Cecilia I would offer my neck to the sword of the executioner, and like St. Joan of arc I would murmur the name of Jesus at the stake."
