Leave-taking of the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. Holy Priest-Martyr Autonomus (284-305).
Ephesians 4:14-19. Mark 11:27-33.
Read Ephesians 4:14-19
Paul speaks of acquiring spiritual wisdom and maturity. The passage begins, “So that we may no longer be children,” and later says, “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:14-15). As “children,” we can be easily swayed by false doctrines; however, we must grow in spiritual maturity and love, united to the Body of Christ. United to Christ’s Body, we receive grace through our participation in the sacramental life of the Church. United as members of Christ’s Body, we inherit and pass down Christ’s very teachings, transmitted through the apostles.
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he tells them: “But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh” (1 Cor. 3:1-2). Paul calls them “infants in Christ” who were fed “with milk, not solid food.” As in today’s reading, Paul distinguishes between different levels of spiritual maturity. As long as we are “of the flesh” and living immoral, unvirtuous lives, we are not “grow[ing] up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”
It is good to ask ourselves, “How should a Christian live?” What would it look like for us to put on “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16)? What sorts of content would we consume in books, on TV, or on the internet? How would we spend our free time? Living in the world, I think it is an easy temptation for us to want to live “of the world.” Recall Jesus’ prayer to our Heavenly Father: “I have given them your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (Jn. 17:14-17). Let us join in Christ’s prayer and pray that we be delivered from the evil one, strengthened from falling into the temptation to be “of” the world and enticed by comforts, pleasures, sensual living, and worldly glory. Let us not be swayed by false doctrines, but rather united to the Church, let us always seek the truth of God’s Word.