Scripture:
Ephesians 3:14-21
Luke 12:49-53
Reflection:
Love of Christ
To know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
-Ephesians 3:19
This week in the Eucharistic liturgy the Church shares with us the amazing love God has for each of us in His Son Jesus! In the Epistle to Ephesians, we find some of the most astonishing statements of Jesus’s loving care for us! In Eph 3:19 we read: “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” The translation into English of the inspired Greek word for “surpasses” is a gross understatement of God’s feelings for us. The Greek word is “upper-ballo” which means to throw something way over our head! It would be like a catcher in baseball throwing a ball to a player on second base above him that the ball goes over the center field wall! Jesus’ love for each one of us is so astounding it is impossible for us to even imagine it in our furthest dreams!
The author of the Epistle reminds us that we must be rooted and grounded in the exceeding love that Christ has for us. Not for a minute do we think we earned or deserve this prodigious caring fondness of Jesus! We must indeed appreciate this lavish affection of His love and share it with others. The great loss of our lives is a failure to comprehend how very much we matter to Him!
His love for us should give us an enormous sense of Peace. Paul said, “The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Gal 2:20 This wonderful gift of a deep understanding of God’s care should give us great peace in our life!
Someone once said: “If you are depressed you are living in the past; if you are anxious you are living in the future, if you are at peace, you are living in the present.” —Lao Tzu If we are “rooted and grounded in the love that Christ has for us” the past only humbles us leaving our hope alive! The future gives us an unspeakable expectation of the joy of being in Jesus’ loving arms and smiling eyes!
“Peace, I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be a cowardly fearful.” John 14:27
Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P., preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.