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Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 3:14–21
Saint Paul begins his prayer for the Ephesians with a simple gesture.
He kneels.
I kneel before the Father.
This is not only a posture of the body.
It is a posture of the heart.
Prayer begins when pride becomes quiet.
Prayer begins when we stand no longer on our own strength,
but open ourselves to God.
Humility is the foundation of prayer.
Then Paul prays for something we all need:
inner strength.
He asks the Father to strengthen the Ephesians
with power through the Holy Spirit
in the inner self.
There is physical strength.
There is worldly strength.
There is the strength of money,
position,
influence,
and control.
But Paul prays for another strength.
The strength that comes from the Spirit.
The strength to follow Christ.
The strength to remain faithful.
The strength to suffer without bitterness.
The strength to love when love is hard.
We see this strength in the saints.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta looked small,
frail,
and weak.
But through the power of God’s Spirit,
she did what many powerful people could not do.
She loved the poorest with courage,
patience,
and tenderness.
Then Paul prays that Christ may dwell in the hearts of the Ephesians
through faith.
Christ does not want to remain outside us.
He wants to dwell in us.
He wants to live in the deepest place of the heart.
Paul says that we are to be
rooted
and grounded
in love.
Like a tree with deep roots.
Like a house built on a strong foundation.
Without love,
faith becomes dry.
Prayer becomes empty.
Service becomes heavy.
But when Christ dwells in the heart,
love becomes the root of everything.
Paul then prays that the Ephesians may grasp
the breadth,
and length,
and height,
and depth
of Christ’s love.
The breadth of His love embraces all people.
The length of His love stretches from eternity to eternity.
The height of His love lifts us toward God.
The depth of His love reaches into our wounds,
our sins,
our lowest places.
And yet, Paul says that this love
surpasses knowledge.
We can speak about it.
We can preach about it.
We can sing about it.
But we can never fully understand it.
Christ’s love is greater than our words.
Greater than our thoughts.
Greater than our imagination.
Paul ends his prayer with praise.
God is able to do far more
than all we ask or imagine.
Our prayers are small.
Our hopes are limited.
Our imagination is narrow.
But God is not limited.
His power is already at work in us.
So today, let us make Paul’s prayer our own.
Father,
strengthen us with Your Spirit.
Let Christ dwell in our hearts.
Root us deeply in His love.
Open us to what we cannot yet imagine.
And may our lives give glory to You
in the Church
and in Christ Jesus.
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.
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