Friday of the
Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59)
In his poem “The White-Tailed Hornet,” Robert Frost
observes that humans do well to compare themselves with higher beings. If they do not, he predicts that they will
suffer one catastrophe after another. Frost’s
lines are worth remembering: “As long on earth/ As our comparisons were stoutly
upward/ With gods and angels, we were men at least,/ But little lower than the
gods and angels./ But once comparisons were yielded downward,/ Once we began to
see our images/ Reflected in the mud and even dust./ ‘Twas disillusion upon
disillusion.” The passage from the
Letter to the Ephesians today bears a similar wisdom.
Ephesians urges its readers “to live in a manner worthy
of the call you have received.” It
claims that they have been chosen by God to be members of God’s family. As God’s children then, they are to live peacefully
avoiding quarrels. More than they, they
are to strive to have a like mind and heart based on truth. It is a tall order, but it can be
accomplished with God’s grace which is “over all and through all and in all.”
Anger is a definite roadblock to peace and unity. We must garner the courage to lay aside outrage
with what others say and do. In place of
getting angry, let us pray for those who bother us. Then we will be ready for honest dialogue
over their faults and ours.
