Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

For: Sunday, August 16, 2009

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From: Ephesians 5:15-20

Walking in the Light (Continuation)
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[15] Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, [16]
making the most of the time, because the days are evil. [17] Therefore do not
be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [18] And do not get drunk
with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
to the Lord with all your heart, [20] always and for everything giving thanks in the
name of our Lord Jesus to God the Father.

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Commentary:

15-17. The new life one receives in Baptism is characterized by a wisdom which
contrasts with the foolishness of those who are bent on turning their backs on
God (cf. 1 Cor 1:18). This wisdom, this sanity, stems from ones' knowledge of
the will of God and full identification with his plans. When a person's life is cohe-
rent with his faith, true wisdom is the result; and this immediately leads him to
"make the most of the time" ("redeeming the time", in the famous words of the
King James version). In fact, we have to make up for lost time. "Redeeming the
time", St Augustine explains, "means sacrificing, when the need arises, present
interests in favor of eternal ones, thereby purchasing eternity with the coin of
time" ("Sermon 16", 2).

The word "kairos", translated as "time", has a more specific meaning in Greek.
In refers to the content of the point in time in which we find ourselves, the situa-
tion which it creates, and the opportunities which that very moment offers as re-
gards the ultimate purpose of this life. Hence, "making the most of the time" is
saying much more than "not wasting a minute": it means "using every situation
and every moment" to give glory to God. For, "time is a treasure that melts away,"
St. Escriva reminds us. "It escapes from us, slipping through our fingers like wa-
ter through the mountain rocks. Tomorrow will soon be another yesterday. Our
lives are so very short. Yesterday has gone and today is passing by. But what a
great deal can be done for the love of God in this short space of time!" ("Friends
of God", 52).

This is a particularly pressing matter, "because the days are evil", as the Apostle
puts it. St Peter makes the same point: "Be sober, be watchful, Your adversary
the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him,
firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your
brotherhood throughout the world" (1 Pet 5:8-9).

18. This verse is an invitation to temperance. In a pagan environment, o easily to
be found then and now, one often meets people who think that happiness and joy
can be attained simply though material things. Nothing could be further from the
truth. St Paul identifies the source of true happiness--docility to the action of the
Holy Spirit in one's soul. This docility gives a peace and a joy which the world is
incapable of providing.

Temperance is "the virtue which holds our passion and desires in check, espe-
cially the sensual ones, and which bring us to moderation in using temporal
goods" ("St. Pius X Catechism", 917). This virtue expresses man's lordship over
everything that God has made, and its practice is essential if one is to see life
from the correct, supernatural, perspective. "Any food excessive to the body's
need eventually stimulates impurity. A soul in this position, sated with food,
cannot wear the bridle of temperance. So, it is not just wine that intoxicates the
mind. Any kind of excessive eating renders it dull and easily influenced and com-
pletely undermines its purity and integrity" (Cassian, "Institutions", 5, 6).

Temperance is a sign of the genuineness of the Christian life of the "children of
light", and it is something that attracts and wins over all naturally noble people.
"Temperance makes the soul sober, modest, understanding. It fosters a natural
sense of reserve which everyone finds attractive because it denotes intelligent
self-control. Temperance implies not narrowness but greatness of soul" (St. J.
Escriva, "Friends of God", 84).

19. From the very beginning of the Church, Christian liturgy has expressed its ap-
preciation to God through psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles. Because man
is made up of body and soul, proper worship of God needs to have a certain ex-
ternal expression. "God has disposed that 'while recognizing God in visible form
we may through him be wrapt to the love of things invisible' (Christmas preface).
Moreover it is natural that the outpourings of the soul should be expressed by the
senses" (Pius XII, "Mediator Dei", 8). In the Church's liturgical ceremonies, can-
ticles are a form of celebration of the greatness of God, and an expression of gra-
titude for blessings received. For their part, "in the psalms there is an opportunity
for the people to bless and praise God; the psalms express the admiration that
people feel and what the people want to say; in them the Church speaks, the
faith is professed in a melodious way, and authority finds a ready acceptance;
there too is heard the joyful call of freedom, the cry of pleasure and the sound
of happiness" (St Ambrose, "Enarratio in Psalmos" 1, 9).

Dignified recital and chant of liturgical prayers makes for active participation of
the faithful in liturgical ceremonies, allowing everyone to share what St Augustine
tells us was his experience: "I wept at the beauty of your hymns and canticles,
and was powerfully moved by the sweet sound of your Church's singing. Those
sounds flowed into my ears, and the truth streamed into my heart--so that my
feeling of devotion overflowed, and the tears poured from my eyes, and I was
happy in them" ("Confessions", 9, 6).

Liturgical prayer in this way becomes a source of genuine fervor and piety, while
at the same time promoting solidarity with other members of the Church, not on-
ly those who praise God while still on their earthly pilgrimage, but also those who
unceasingly glorify him in heaven. "What a wonderful thing it is to imitate on earth
the choir of angels!", St Basil explains; "preparing oneself for prayer at the first
hour of the day and glorifying the Creator with hymns and praise. And later, when
the sun is at its height, full of splendor and light, doing one's work to the accom-
paniment of prayer on all sides, seasoning one's actions, so to speak, with the
salt of ejaculatory prayers" ("Epistle", II, 3).

20. We need to be continually thanking God, "for everything works for good with
those who love (God)" (Rom 8:28) or, in another version, "everything helps to se-
cure the good of those who love God" (Knox). Everything that happens in life falls
within the providence of God. He permits us to experience sorrows and joys,
successes and failures. Therefore, for a Christian who acts in line with his faith,
everything is success, even things which in human terms he may find negative
and painful; for, if he views disagreeable things in a supernatural way and approa-
ches them with love for Christ's cross, they bring him joy and peace and merit.
That is why we should always be grateful to God: "Get used to lifting your heart
to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day. Because he gives you this
and that. Because you have been despised. Because you haven't what you need
or because you have [...]. Thank him for everything, because everything is good"
(St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 268).

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries".  Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.  We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

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in everlasting silence: and in silence the soul has to hear it.
   --  St John of the Cross