The Priest-Martyr Gregory, Bishop of Great Armenia (284-305)
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Ephesians 4:17-25; Mark 12:1-12
Read Ephesians 4:17-25
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Today’s reading from the epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians reminds me of Christ’s words to His disciples: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mt. 16:24). Paul writes the Ephesians that they should “no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God” (Eph. 4: 17-18).
The world tries to convince us to value the wrong things. We are encouraged to be selfish and vainly individualistic. We hear we need to be kind to those who are kind to us but hate those who are against us. These messages and others like them are the exact opposite of the teachings of Christ, but the false prophets of our day will disguise these messages as if they were His.
The message of the cross demonstrates the power of God (see 1 Cor. 1:18). The cross embodies the good news that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). Jesus freely accepted a shameful death on the cross, and three days later He rose from the dead. He is risen! He is alive today, and death has no power over Him or over anyone else who lives as a member of His Body. In the final verse of today’s reading, Paul reminds the Ephesians that we are members of one other.
In baptism, we are initiated as members of Christ’s Body. We “die” and “rise” in Christ through the waters of baptism and are robed in Him; we are anointed with chrism as kings are and are grafted into Christ, the True Vine. Each of us can stand and offer our prayers of thanksgiving to God, exercising “a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). Our initiation makes it possible for us to fully participate in the Eucharist, remembering the words of Jesus: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (Jn. 6:53-56).
Paul writes the Ephesians to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and . . . put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:23-24). While we work to cultivate virtue in our lives and remove sin, we must remember that we need to be new both inside and out. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to transform our minds so that we may have the mind of Christ and walk in newness of life.