by David H. Powell
IN THE PREFACE to her new book “Poetic Flotsam,” Magdalen Radovich (Mater Christi H.S. ’80) says that books of poetry are confessions of a literary mudlark: the poet, like the mudlark, burrows through old stuff “in the hopes of finding something of value on which to subsist.”
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians in a sense is something composed by Paul toward the end of his life (or by a close disciple after his death) that is a result of a certain amount of “burrowing” through previous letters to individual Christian communities at times of great struggle.
The end result: a masterpiece of short, beautiful reflection on the mystery of the presence of God through Christ in all of us, individually and collectively.
Take, for example, the following excerpts from the opening chapter: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,” and “In all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth” (Ch. 1:3-5, 8-10).
This is truly a letter intended for the universal church of all times. Yes, in baptism and confirmation, we who “believed in Him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession to the praise of his glory” (1:13-14).
There is much more in these first three chapters, including a beautiful prayer for us to “be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self.”
The final three chapters are wonderful reflections as well on gifts, virtues and overall moral behavior as down-to-earth expressions of this unity of what has been called “the mystical body of Christ.”
Certainly Ephesians 1-3, and if you wish 4-6, are for being read paragraph by paragraph on summer days or nights, or even at one sitting on a retreat afternoon, especially for any of us worn out from church struggles as Paul himself often was.
Speaking of retreat, consider also the Gospel of John, chapters 14-17. While the politician/philosopher Thomas Jefferson spent his last years editing and assembling the life of Jesus as a compendium of His moral teachings, the editor of John’s Gospel was more concerned with the manifestation of God’s power at work in the life of Jesus as well as in His teaching.
As seen everywhere in the Gospel of John, the core of Jesus’ moral teaching is the new commandment that we love one another as Christ has loved us and as the Father has loved Him (John 15: 9, 12) As far as we can surmise, the final editor of John put together a whole series of speeches of Jesus into one long “farewell discourse” at the Last Supper like a last will and testament. Be it the moving chapter 14 about Jesus going to prepare a place for us, or chapter 15 about the vine and the branches, the ongoing relationship between the Father, Son and Spirit and ourselves make these chapters among the most highly recommended for retreat reading, not as a theological treatise on the Trinity, but rather as a poetic melodrama about the extraordinary intimacy of it all.
Speaking at a deep level, Jesus points out that His knowledge of the Father is one of intimate communion, a knowledge His followers are also able to have now because of their intimacy with Jesus. This presence of the Father and Son in His followers will be even deeper than when He was on earth because of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
On this 500th anniversary of the Reformation Jesus’ call for Christian unity in John 17 rings deeper than ever. John 14-17 is also a wonderful backdrop to the books on prayer included in The Tablet’s summer reading list (Pages 38-39).
Let us take advantage of summertime to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Trinitarian life pulsating deeply with us.
Powell and his wife direct the faith formation program at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Forest Hills.