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Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 2:1–10
History is often divided into two parts:
before Christ
and after Christ.
But this can also happen inside a human life.
There can be a time before Christ,
and a time after Christ.
This is what happened to the Ephesians.
Before they knew the Gospel,
before they believed in Christ,
they were spiritually dead.
Saint Paul says they were dead
because of their trespasses and sins.
They followed the desires of the flesh.
They followed the impulses of human nature.
They lived far from the source of life,
which is God Himself.
This is a hard truth.
Sin does not only break rules.
Sin wounds the soul.
Sin separates us from God.
Sin slowly makes the heart dead.
But Paul does not stop there.
He gives us the great turning point:
God is rich in mercy.
Because of His great love,
God brought us to life with Christ.
We were dead,
but God made us alive.
We were far away,
but God brought us near.
We were lost,
but God saved us by grace.
Saint Paul uses the language of Christ’s own mystery.
Christ died.
Christ was raised.
Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father.
And in baptism,
we are joined to Christ.
We die with Him.
We rise with Him.
We begin to live a new life in Him.
Paul even says that God has raised us with Christ
and seated us with Him in the heavens.
This shows us the greatness of baptism.
It is a new birth.
It is a passage from death to life.
It is the beginning of a new creation.
And all of this is grace.
It is the gift of God.
No one can boast.
We do not save ourselves.
We do not raise ourselves from spiritual death.
We do not earn the life of God.
God gives it.
Freely.
Mercifully.
Lovingly.
Then Paul says that we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus
for good works.
Our words,
our choices,
our service,
our forgiveness,
our care for others,
can show that Christ is alive in us.
So today we can ask:
Am I living before Christ,
or after Christ?
Am I still walking in the old way,
or am I living the new life given to me in baptism?
God is rich in mercy.
He has brought us to life in Christ.
Now let us live
as people made alive by grace.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Content License
© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
(Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial).