Holy Prophet Zachariah and Elisabeth, Parents of John the Baptist. Venerable Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Ephesians 1:1-9. Mark 7:24-30.
Read Ephesians 1:1-9
In today’s reading from the beginning of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we hear about God’s plan in salvation history. Before the foundation of the world, God chose us to be holy and blameless before Him, destining that we become His adopted children by grace through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. By Christ’s death on the cross, we have been redeemed and have received forgiveness of our sins.
At the opening of this letter and in other places, Paul addresses the community as “saints.” This was a common reference to believers in the early Church. St. John Chrysostom comments that the early Christians must have been so virtuous to merit this title: “Think how great is the indolence that possesses us now, how rare is anything like virtue now and how great the abundance of virtuous men must have been then, when even secular men could be called ‘saints and faithful’ . . . And what do you lack yet? You are made immortal; you are made free; you are made a son; you are made righteous; you are made a brother; you are made a fellow-heir; you reign with Christ; you are glorified with Christ” (Argument and Homily I on Ephesians I).
We have been made holy by Christ. Before the Eucharist is fractioned at the Divine Liturgy, the priest exclaims: “The holy Things for the holy!” The faithful respond: “One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.” One is holy, and that is God. It is Christ Who makes us holy. It is Christ Who has redeemed us by His blood and has enabled us to be called children of God by adoption through baptism.