In the epistle designated for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, we hear from St. Paul's fourth chapter of his Letter to the Ephesians. In the beginning of this chapter, St. Paul writes: "I therefore . . . beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." (Ephesians 4:1) Those who are called to be Christians are called to be something truly noble. That may sound very lofty but it is true. This is because we are called to imitate "light" in a world of "darkness." This is not very easy at times. In fact, it's a pretty tall order if you ask me. But that being said, St. Paul goes on to give some pretty sound advice in this fourth chapter of Ephesians. In verse 31 of this chapter he writes: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." (Ephesians 4:31) Probably, I would dare say, this is the best advice of the whole chapter for us to keep in mind. I say this because we live in a fast paced world. I would say this is true for all of us. Whether we are working or retired; whether we live in cities or in towns; whether we are young or old. Just about everybody I know . . . . myself included . . . is constantly busy at doing this or doing that. Going to work. Going to doctor's appointments. Going shopping. Cleaning the house. Fixing the house. Doing yardwork. Picking up the kids. Going to games. The list goes on and on. And, unfortunately, for many of us . . . . again, myself included . . . . busy schedules oftentimes lead to stressful living. And stressful living can lead to short tempers and lack of patience with those around us. We get angry with the idiots that cut us off in traffic and almost cause a wreck. We get irritated with the people in front of us at the store who are holding up the checkout line by trying to use coupons that have been expired for five months. We get mad at people who may have a different opinion than we do. The list goes on and on. And while these things may seem insignificant in and of themselves, added all together these things have the potential to make our lives very stressful.
God does not mean for our lives to be filled with stress and anger and irritation. Quite frankly, when we get irritated with someone or something . . . . even if we are correct to be irritated . . . this irritation does not harm the other person; it harms us. The other person probably doesn't even know of our irritation and probably wouldn't care anyway even if they would know. The irritation and the anger and the bitterness is what builds up inside of us and harms us. Period. St. Paul is warning the church at Ephesus just like he is warning us two-thousand years later: be filled with things of God instead of things of the world. Fill yourself with the love of God so that you will not be filled with the anger and bitterness offered by the world. In a certain sense, we are similar to a pitcher or a glass or a box. If the container is filled with whatever objects we can think of and the contained is filled to the brim, we can not fit anything else in. Thus, remove the items from the container so that we can fill the other items in there. Thus, in that sense, how can we expect to fill ourselves with the love of God if we are already filled with anger and bitterness and hate? Conversely, how can anger and bitterness and hate fill us if we are already filled with the love of God?
Two opportunities to join us for Mass on Sunday, October 11th, 2015:
St. Margaret Church meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.
The Church of the Holy Spirit meets every Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM. We worship at the beautiful and historic First Presbyterian Church near downtown Greenfield, Indiana, located at the corner of South and Pennsylvania Streets in Greenfield.
Join us as we listen to Holy Scripture, hear the Word of God preached, and receive Our Precious Lord in Holy Communion. A Coffee Hour follows Mass.
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