For the next seven Sundays (July 14 – August 25) the second reading at Mass will be from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. So to help you better appreciate this great letter, I offer you the following introduction which was written by Dr. Tod Warner. It appears in The Word on Fire Bible: Acts, Letters, and Revelation (2022, Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, p. 370-371; Used with permission). You may want to refer back to this introduction as you prepare for Mass over the next seven weeks.
“The Letter to the Ephesians is a book of great paradoxes. Addressed to Christians of the Greek city of Ephesus, it was intended not only for local citizens but for circulation among the worldwide Church. Speaking of the one true God, it immediately elaborates on God's triune nature. Unified, we are diverse. One body, we have many parts. Working for good, we are saved by grace. Dead in our sins, we are raised to life. Ephesians offers a message of glorious truth and wondrous tension. As G.K Chesterton Once observed about the paradox of our faith, ‘In short, Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious. The Church was positive on both points.’
“In this short book of only six chapters (merely 155 verses), St. Paul unpacks what really matters to the Christian world. He reminds us who we come from: a loving Father, a saving Son, and a counseling Spirit. He points out who we are: one, holy, mission-driven Church of Jew and gentile, parent and child, slave and free. He warns of what we are facing: principalities and powers, evil spirits and darkness. And he galvanizes us to be what we are divinely called to be: holy disciples living in the light. In a sense, the whole of the Christian narrative is embodied in this love letter to the Church.
“Ephesians stirs our senses. St. Paul's words speak of the softness of renewal and the harshness of battle, the soaring abstractions of theology and the concrete practicalities of holy living. We are called to personally discern our gifts while remembering our duties to the larger Church. We are to live in hope and faith and love. We are to be renewed in our new selves and called to pray without ceasing.
“To be sure, in its short span, Ephesians is a book of great paradoxes centered on both hope and warning. But foremost, it is a book of riches and light, fullness and glory, boldness and confidence, wisdom and peace. In the end, it is as if Saint Paul lovingly takes us by the hand and says with awe and wonder, ‘Look. Just look here at this extraordinary thing, this beautiful truth. And you and I? We are a part of it! Indeed, we are saved by it.’ “Read this book. And yield to the sublime words whispered in your ears: