Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
This past weekend I had the good fortune of giving a presentation on the Eucharist at St. Leonard’s faith community in Centerville. It was spiritually edifying to hear and share personal experiences of the Eucharist. It was also encouraging to realize the depth and importance of community, especially the community around the altar of God.
Today’s first reading is from St. Paul to the Ephesians, and I think St. Paul gives us much to think about in terms of community. He is assuring Gentile Christians that, through Christ, they share in the promises of God. For Paul, Jesus is the new Temple, the center of faith and the place where we meet God. He assures his listeners and readers: “through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father." He sums up the Gospel itself, the good news that God has come into the world and draws all people to himself by his sacrifice.
I think the most poignant line in St. Paul’s letter is near the end, when he says, “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.” Over the past two weeks, the world’s bishops gathered with Pope Francis for the first of two meetings that make up the Extraordinary Synod on the Family. It’s been quite a couple of weeks, as the bishops have worked very hard to discuss and attend to some of the Church’s most pressing issues. St. Paul’s words seem to echo a theme that the Synod emphasized and that Pope Francis has emphasized since his election: mercy. In order to properly welcome “strangers and sojourners,” we must have hearts of mercy that lead us to compassion.
We might take some time to reflect on who are “strangers and sojourners” among us. Essentially, being a “stranger” or a “sojourner” means being away from home. We should not forget that we, as St. Paul says, “are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” As a Church, our parishes and communities should emulate Christ in extending a home to all people, despite how far they’ve traveled or how different they are.
- Katherine Schmidt