The Call We Have Received

The following comes from Bishop Etienne's site:
This week’s first readings are taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. This is undoubtedly one of my favorites of Paul’s epistles. I chose my own episcopal motto from this epistle: Ephesians 4:15: Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ.If we had a goal of reading some of St. Paul’s epistles every day, we would have a great reminder of the life that is ours in Jesus Christ, and the power and grace that flow from that relationship. Rooted in that reality, today, St. Paul reminds us to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

The longer I live, the more deeply aware I am that my entire life is a gift from God through Jesus Christ. I grow daily in my gratitude for the magnitude of that gift, and the life of holiness through baptism, priesthood, and now the episcopacy to which I am called. St. Paul earlier in this letter to the Ephesians recalls more of this mystery and beauty:

…be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (3:14-19)

Such is the beauty of the life to which we are called! Live life to the full, my friends! Live life in Christ!

+PDE