The Armor of God

Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.” (Eph 6:11-13)

In today’s reading St. Paul uses the metaphor of the “armor of God.” I can remember the first time I heard the expression. It was spoken by someone who I thought, in general, was a bit dramatic about most things in life. Everything was a pitched battle between the forces of light and dark. While driving to a bible study at our country parish, a crow was spotted perched on a fence. “Look, it’s one of Satan’s demons!” Sometimes a crow is just a crow.

And then sometimes we have this reading on Halloween. Continue reading

Letter to the Ephesians

Ephesians is the great Pauline letter about the church. It deals, however, not so much with a congregation in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor as with the worldwide church, the head of which is Christ (Eph 4:15), the purpose of which is to be the instrument for making God’s plan of salvation known throughout the universe (Eph 3:910). Yet this ecclesiology is anchored in God’s saving love, shown in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:410), and the whole of redemption is rooted in the plan and accomplishment of the triune God (Eph 1:314). The language is often that of doxology (Eph 1:314) and prayer (cf. Eph 1:1523; 3:1419), indeed of liturgy and hymns (Eph 3:2021; 5:14). Continue reading