Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

We have, as the first reading today, a few lines from Chapter I of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, wherein he says: “In [Christ] we also were chosen, we were destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).

At the center of our Christian faith is the amazing truth that God has opened up his own inner being and allowed us to have a share in his life. The heavenly Father sent his Son into our human ‘godlessness,’ into physical suffering, marginalization, psychological agony, even into death itself. Whereupon, by intervention of the divine Spirit, he called back his Son. As he departed from his disciples and returned to the Father, the Son carried with him all of us whom he had embraced, so that nothing can finally separate us from the love of God. When we, through Holy Baptism, entered into the drama of Christ’s sanctifying mission, we were made children of God. We were rendered holy in the sense that we were deified, that is, we were made more like unto God.

The holy life is not primarily defined by excellence, or spiritual athleticism, or any sort of wonderful human achievement. It’s about being drawn, by grace, into a dignity that’s far beyond our own meager merits or noble expectations. [Adapted from “Fr. Robert Barron, “We Share God’s Very Own Life”, in Living Faith, Oct-Nov-Dec 2006.] As we are drawn, we are also encouraged by the promise which God made through his prophet Isaiah: ”Never will I forget you… I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” Indeed, those who remain in God’s friendship, on good terms with Him, have no need to fear any future eventuality.

Reflection by Fr. Quentin Kathol, OSB