STRENGTHENING THE INNER MAN IN CHRIST

THURSDAY, TWENTY NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Eph 3:14-21; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,11-12,18-19; Lk 12:49-53

Strengthening the Inner Man

We come to the second prayer of St. Paul for the Christian community at Ephesus. The first prayer was for God to give them the spirit of wisdom and perception of what he has revealed. The second prayer is for them to grow strong in their inner self and grasp the love of Jesus Christ which is beyond knowledge. This second prayer, similar to the first prayer, is meant for every Christian. The grace he supplicates for them is a follow-up to the first grace for understanding what God revealed in Christ Jesus. Knowledge and experience separate our infancy from adulthood. To grow as Christians, we must acquire more knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ and what he stands for us. Faith introduces and initiates our spiritual birth, but consistent prayer and eating of our spiritual food bring about growth in spiritual life. Hence, we have established that the absence of frequent, fervent, and consistent prayers implies the absence of a Christian spirit in us. St. Paul prayed for us to grow in wisdom and perception of what God revealed, but we will not make progress in this regard if we do not ask, seek, and knock, as the Lord directed us to do. To those who obey this divine directive, the second prayer of Paul is for their inner self to come to maturity.

Nuptial Love is for grown-ups or adults and not for children. We must mature in our knowledge of Jesus Christ, to love him as he loved us. The reason our spiritual maturity is a prerequisite for growing in the love of the Lord is that love is self-giving. One who has no possession of himself cannot give himself to another. No one gives what he does not have. Paul’s prayer indicates that the strengthening of the inner self is through our harkening to the Holy Spirit who leads us into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. As Paul explained yesterday, our knowledge of the mysteries revealed in Christ Jesus gives us power and authority above Sovereignties and Powers, as individuals and as the Church. “This is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name: Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith.” He said the prayer before the Father from whom we receive every perfect good. He is the source of every spiritual and natural family because spiritual and natural life comes from him. If our spiritual life comes from him, whatever strengthens it also comes from him. What we need for its strengthening, which Paul is praying for, is the bread of heaven, Jesus Christ the Lord. He who said: I am the bread that comes down from heaven.

The consistent eating of this heavenly bread makes the fire of love blossom in our hearts. The Sacrament of this heavenly food is the Eucharist, his body and blood, which the Church celebrates as the source and summit of her spiritual life. It is the Sacrament of his passion and death, for these signify the mysteries of his love for us. The Church nourishes her children with these mysteries of Jesus Christ daily to plant and build them on love. Through these mysteries, the Holy Spirit enables us to grasp the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love, which is beyond knowledge, as Paul prayed. This infinite love of the Father for us, which rages in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, was the cause of his passion and death on the cross. It is the fire he came to enkindle on earth as he revealed to his disciples. “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!” The sacred humanity of our Lord was yet to be engulfed by the ocean of love of his Father and his love for us in his passion and death. Without his going through the baptism first, we cannot be baptised nor drink the cup of salvation as he informed the sons of Zebedee. To come to maturity of love and union with Jesus Christ, we must first go through his baptism and drink his cup. Only grace avails this for us.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance and teaching daily, in order to grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ your Son, so that planted and rooted in the deep mysteries of Christ, we may come to the knowledge of your incomprehensible love for us.