Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: October 29, 2024

Date: Tuesday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture Text: EPHESIANS 5:21-33

Brothers and sisters:

Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body. As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, because we are members of his Body.

For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother

and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The first reading for today from the Letter to the Ephesians is one that can easily be misunderstood out of context and in modern terms. Paul writes the letter to call the diverse faithful to loving unity. In this section of the letter, dedicated to rules for life, Paul continues to preach unity through Christ, in the Spirit. The technique he uses is called synthetic parallelism. Each statement affirms and intensifies the earlier statement.

Note “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ” is the first statement. Both wives and husbands are to submit or better said lovingly accept and willingly yield, to cooperate with one another for the unity of both in the Spirit. The letter calls for mutual submission for love of Christ and love of the other.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

In my relationships, do I seek to lovingly support the others’ growth in Christ?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, You sent your beloved and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to dwell among us, to take upon himself our human nature, and as our brother to reveal You and your great and merciful love to us. Through His teachings and most especially through His example, He modeled for us right relationship with You, our loving and almighty Father, and with one another. And on the cross of Calvary, acting as our Redeemer, he willingly yielded to your will for our salvation, and he lovingly gave His life so that we might have life with You in abundance. Send your Spirit to stir within us that grace necessary to willingly choose the loving path and to tend to our relationships with one another with the love Christ showed us as He gave himself so that we might be saved. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit, one LORD, forever and ever. Amen.