Reflection on the Readings of Wednesday the 19th of September 2018
Ephesians, 3:8-21 and Luke 4:1-15
In the Epistle to the Ephesians we read: "Brethren, to me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made know the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" and further, "that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God."
So we are taught here by the Apostle that it is only through the Church that knowledge of God's plans are made known to the powers and principalities of heaven. It is the teaching of the Church that the angels were not aware before hand of God's wondrous economy; that He would redeem the fallen creation by entering into it, the second person of the Trinity being born in the flesh and sharing in our nature, suffering on the cross, and by His divine nature rising from the dead and renewing fallen nature, seating it at the very right hand of the power that is on high. Of all of this the angels were unaware until it came to pass. How is this so? Paul tells us, because these things were "hidden from the foundation of the world." In another place Paul teaches us further that God, "has not put the world to come,..., in subjection to the angels (Heb 2:4)" and likewise, speaking of the prophets and the Church of the firstborn, which are the angels, Paul says, "all these having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us (Heb 11:40)." If the Lord desired to hide the mystery, even from the angelic hosts, how much more also should he hid it from "the principalities of the air," those hosts of demonic tempters who first aided our race in its fall? The devil who is the father of lies was not given to know the means of his own downfall; for he has been defeated by Christ in His resurrection and bound. It is in Christ that the mystery that was hidden consists, and further, in the continuing presence of Christ in His Church.
The Church herself is made known through Christ, for she is His body, in which he dwells in all His fullness. Through his presence and indwelling in that body we come to know his love "which surpasses knowledge," and by being rooted and grounded in Him who is love Himself (1 John 1:8), we gain the power, with all the saints, to comprehend "the breadth and length and height and depth" of the divine design throughout the cosmos. That is, in Christ's body, through His own activity, we come to not only knowledge but the true ground of all reality; we come to boundless love and communion with God in Christ Jesus, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This occurs because, through the sacraments we have progressively entered into that mystery hidden from before the ages, even from the eyes of the angels. In baptism we have put on Christ (Gal 3:27), by the Chrism we have received the Holy Spirit, for the Lord said "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5)." And what is more we have tasted, in the mysteries of the Divine Table, His very flesh and blood, for his flesh is food indeed and his blood is drink indeed (John 6:55). By these mysteries we have entered into the very life of Christ and are made, not only symbolically, but in our very flesh and blood members of Christ, for "we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Rom 12:5)." Before these things came to pass for us, not even the angels knew this mystery!
The Church herself is made known through Christ, for she is His body, in which he dwells in all His fullness. Through his presence and indwelling in that body we come to know his love "which surpasses knowledge," and by being rooted and grounded in Him who is love Himself (1 John 1:8), we gain the power, with all the saints, to comprehend "the breadth and length and height and depth" of the divine design throughout the cosmos. That is, in Christ's body, through His own activity, we come to not only knowledge but the true ground of all reality; we come to boundless love and communion with God in Christ Jesus, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This occurs because, through the sacraments we have progressively entered into that mystery hidden from before the ages, even from the eyes of the angels. In baptism we have put on Christ (Gal 3:27), by the Chrism we have received the Holy Spirit, for the Lord said "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5)." And what is more we have tasted, in the mysteries of the Divine Table, His very flesh and blood, for his flesh is food indeed and his blood is drink indeed (John 6:55). By these mysteries we have entered into the very life of Christ and are made, not only symbolically, but in our very flesh and blood members of Christ, for "we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Rom 12:5)." Before these things came to pass for us, not even the angels knew this mystery!
This is made all the more evident in the Gospel reading from Luke, where we hear of Christ's temptation by Satan in the wilderness. He who is chief of our enemies, for we struggle against the evil angels, "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12)," had no idea who he was speaking to when he came to tempt the Christ of God. Listen to the Lord's answers to the demon and see. When tempting the Lord to turn stones to bread he responds, "Man shall not live on bread alone" and St. Matthew adds "but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matt 4:4)" And who speaks these words but the Word Himself, by whom we live? When the devil tempts him with the kingdoms of the earth He responds, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." The rebel servant is unaware that he dares to ask the King of Kings to bow down in worship! Christ Himself is the one whom we alone may serve. Having rejected the diabolic offer of power, the devil tempts the Lord one last time, bidding Him to tempt God by a marvelous sign, dangling Him from the temple roof and bidding Him leap. The Lord responds, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," and with this Satan flees, still thinking to catch Him at some more inopportune time. He is unaware that is his God who speaks, rebuking him in the very act of tempting. The devil is fooled by Christ! The archfiend, who fell by self-love and the longing to be as God, cannot perceive the "mystery hidden from the foundation of the world." The Lord at every turn revealed His presence, but the father of lies was deceived, "for the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:5).
It is in this way, hidden but manifest that God chose to reveal the mystery. In this same way is Christ in his body; for He is both hidden and manifest in the Church. He is hidden because we see Him no longer, but He is manifest in the divine mysteries by which we partake of Him and become united to Him. It is in union with Christ's holy body, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church that we are made partakers of the love of Christ. We receive him into our hearts, and this is not meant in any sentimental way. Rather by heart we must understand the very core and kernel of our being, physical and spiritual. The heart is the center by which life flows into the entire body, and it is in the heart that Christ makes his abode, for "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (Gal 5:9)." In the same way Christ, through the mysteries he left us, gives life to his entire body, the Church. At this mystery the angels tremble with us in amaze, the heavenly hosts with awe and love, the dark principalities in fear, seeing the greatness of the One God in Trinity, in whom, "we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28)."
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