Memory of the Church

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Memorial of Saint John Paul II who died in 2005. Remembrance of Mary Salome, mother of James and John, who followed the Lord till the feet of the cross and laid him in the tomb.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Ephesians 3,14-21

This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every fatherhood, in heaven or on earth, takes its name. In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, with all God's holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God. Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

When faced with the revelation of the boundless riches of Christ, Paul "bends his knees before the Father" and prays for the Ephesians. He asks God that the Spirit make them strong in strengthening their inner being. The Spirit is the power of God working in the depths of the heart, the place of choices, decisions and thoughts. It is in the heart that change starts, and it is where Christ descends with his word and his grace. The presence of Christ opens the heart and mind to communion with our brothers and sisters. God's mystery can be understood only in love, only in a life of discipleship and witness lived in community, "with the Saints." The knowledge of the mystery (including listening to the Word) has an unavoidable ecclesial dimension: people share the same truth, and most of all they experience it together. In mutual love brothers and sisters become mediators of the knowledge of Christ. It is in fraternity that the Spirit works for our inner growth. This is why common life with brothers and sisters is essential to know Christ. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians culminates in a final request: to be filled in all the fullness of God. The apostle concludes with a word of praise: the unity of humanity is the glory of God, the revelation of His love that will always be superabundant, above all our understanding and beyond our expectations. To Him, therefore, the glory "in the church and in Christ Jesus."