OUR ORIGINAL BLESSINGS IN THE SON


ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, BISHOP, MARTYR

Eph 1:1-10; Ps 98:1-6; Lk 11:47-54

God blessed us with heavenly Wisdom in Christ

We commence reading the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians as we celebrate the memorial of St. Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch. In this letter, St. Paul expounded on the mysteries and riches of God offered us in Jesus Christ. Here, we see the outline of the Wisdom of God, in which he ordered everything he created to himself through Jesus Christ. Hence, we refer to Jesus Christ as the Eternal Wisdom. All things were made and ordered back to God the Father through the Eternal Word of God. The unfathomable gift of the Father to us in Jesus Christ forms the theme of the opening of the letter which is more like a hymn of thanksgiving to the Father. It says that the Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven by giving us his Beloved Son. “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.” Because all the Father has belonged to the Son as the Only Begotten, the gift of the Son to us contains all the spiritual blessings of heaven. The remarkable thing is that God gave us the gift before the creation of the world. So, we were destined or made for glory in God. Sin did not cause God to change his mind about us and the blessed end for which he made us. It delayed the fulfilment of that end. This explanation gives us a deeper reason why Abraham’s blessing was for all, Jews and Gentiles alike.

The wonderful gift will be ours, according to Paul, only when we live in his presence. Satan and his demons plan to prevent us from entering and remaining in his presence all the days of our lives. “Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes.” For this reason, baptism brings us to die to the senses and live interior life in the presence of God through the Holy Spirit of adoption dwelling in our hearts. We cannot inherit God if we do not possess him daily by passing our days in his presence. This is the first task heavenly wisdom accomplishes in us, to usher us into the presence of God and direct every of our affairs in line with God’s gift to us in his Son. “Such is the richness of the grace which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight.” The grace of God works in us to perpetuate the remembrance of God’s presence; by that remembrance, his Spirit actively works in us to actualise the purpose of God in our lives. The importance of divine presence is why the greatest Sacrament of the Church, the Eucharist, is about the presence of Jesus Christ in his Church, geared towards his abiding presence in each of his members. This abiding presence is the immediate realisation of the plan of God that he will accomplish when we see him face to face in the beatific vision of heaven.

This is the strong point or ground for which our Lord rebuked the Pharisees and scribes/lawyers. They were confusing the minds of the people and acting as enemies of God by obstructing people from entering the presence of God and the kingdom of heaven. “Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others going in who wanted to.” The Pharisees practiced external religion and promoted it through their life and misdirected zeal. They persecuted those who wanted to serve God in truth and spirit. They were fighting and destroying true religion through their activities. The saint we celebrate today, St. Ignatius of Antioch, was on fire with the true love of Jesus Christ and offered himself to the will of the Father. He was the second bishop of Antioch. He laid down his life for the good of the Christian faith. He was arrested, condemned to death, and transported to Rome to be thrown to the wild beast in the arena. The seven letters he wrote to different churches along the way expressed his deep devotion to Jesus and the desire to die for the love of Jesus Christ. His holy ardour for martyrdom is exceptional. He died in 107 AD. We pray for the grace to imitate his dedication and devotion to Jesus Christ.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, who adorn the sacred body of your Church with the confessions of holy Martyrs, grant, we pray, that, just as the glorious passion of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, which we celebrate today, brought him eternal splendour, so it may be for us unending protection.    

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