These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
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. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Eph 6:10-20)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102722.cfm
As my homiletics professor, David Buttrick, was always eager to point out, the only offensive weapon we have in our arsenal is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Unfortunately, too many use the word of God as a weapon to beat down, divide and destroy, not exactly what our professor had in mind.
Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not only when being watched, as currying favor, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, willingly serving the Lord and not men, knowing that each will be requited from the Lord for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. Masters, act in the same way towards them, and stop bullying, knowing that both they and you have a Master in heaven and that with him there is no partiality. (Eph 6:1-9)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102622.cfm
Is slavery (human trafficking) condoned by the Bible? Of course not! But this passage has certainly been used that way in the past. The question about all these “troubling” passages is how to interpret them today, two thousand years later. As Catholics, we are grateful to have the Church to help us understand how the true message of the Scriptures is to be heard despite all the changeable cultural accumulations.
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body. As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. (Eph 5:21-33)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102522.cfm
Using an isolated, 2,000 year old text as a prescription for modern day marriage counseling might rightly give rise to a malpractice lawsuit, especially when “wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything” is cited frequently and “husbands love your wives” is not. Perhaps, “be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ” is the key to understanding what the poor writer was trying to say.
Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. (Eph 4:38-5:2)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102422.cfm
To live as children of light—imitators of God, as beloved children. Why? How? Because Christ loved us.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 34)
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102322.cfm
If the Lord hears the cry of the poor, perhaps we should too. Today's picture is Christ of the Breadlines (ca 1950) by Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990).
