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Thursday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 1:1–10
Some lives are changed by adoption.
Maggie MacNeil was born in China.
As a baby, she was left behind and placed in an orphanage.
Then a Canadian couple adopted her.
They gave her a home.
They cared for her health.
They raised her.
They loved her.
Years later, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo,
Maggie won a gold medal in swimming for Canada.
Adoption changed the story of her life.
Today Saint Paul tells us that something even deeper has happened to us.
In Christ,
we have been adopted by God.
Paul begins his Letter to the Ephesians
with a hymn of praise.
He praises the Father,
who blessed us and chose us in Christ.
He praises the Son,
who redeemed us by His blood.
He praises the Holy Spirit,
who seals us and prepares us for our inheritance.
At the heart of this hymn there is one beautiful truth:
before the foundation of the world,
God chose us in Christ.
Before we did anything,
God loved us.
Before we could deserve anything,
God called us.
Before the world existed,
we were already in the heart of God.
This is not because we were strong.
Not because we were holy.
Not because we were better than others.
It is grace.
Pure grace.
In the Bible, God often chooses people.
Noah was chosen to preserve life.
Abraham was chosen to become a blessing.
Israel was chosen to be God’s people.
And now, in Christ,
the Church is chosen.
Jews and Gentiles,
people from every nation,
are brought together in one family.
This is the mystery Paul proclaims.
God wants to gather all things in Christ.
All peoples.
All histories.
All wounds.
All hopes.
All creation.
And the purpose of this choice
is adoption.
We are not strangers.
We are not outsiders.
We are not spiritual orphans.
We are God’s beloved children in His beloved Son.
This changes everything.
The Ephesians once worshipped many gods.
They lived in fear of unseen powers.
They did not know the God of Israel.
But in Christ,
they received a new identity.
And so have we.
Our past does not have the final word.
Our wounds do not have the final word.
Our failures do not have the final word.
In Christ,
we are a new creation.
So today, let us remember who we are.
Chosen.
Blessed.
Redeemed.
Adopted.
Loved.
And let us live as children of God,
holy and blameless before Him,
in love.
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).