Ephesians 1: 11-14 teaches us that we have “obtained an inheritance,” and that we have assurance of it because we were “marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” as a “pledge of our inheritance.” The Holy Spirit is God’s “marker,” his “I owe you,” in our hearts. We received this pledge when we “heard the word of truth, the good news of our salvation, and… believed in him.” (See 1Corinthians 4:1-2; 1Peter 4:10.) 

The foundation of our hope is the fact that we are chosen, destined to receive all that was set forth as God’s plan in yesterday’s reading.  

This hope is an abiding gift of grace, of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. It is the experience of the divine in us. But to be a fully human experience as well, it also must be an abiding state of mind. To maintain and sustain that state of mind, our conscious hope, we need to sustain the experience that gave it to us: the experience of hearing ‘the word of truth, the good news’ and believing in it. 

In other words, to be faithful “stewards of God’s mysteries,” and “stewards of the manifold grace of God”1 we need to keep reading, reflecting, and responding with faith to the word of God. These are the “three R’s” of Christian discipleship implied in Christian stewardship and required for Christian leadership. 

We need to keep our hope alive and conscious. Why? Because the opposition of the “world,” of our society, our culture, will keep fear alive and conscious in us! If we, as faithful stewards of the reign of God, work for changes in family and social life, business and politics, we will inevitably be attacked. 

That is why Jesus, in Luke 12: 1-7, said not to “the crowd gathered by the thousands,” but to “his disciples,” “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.” Mediocre Christians, Christians “by inertia,” have nothing to fear from friends or family, social group, co-workers or business associates— or from other members of the Church (the “modern-day Pharisees”) whose religion consists only in defending “orthodoxy” and observing the rules. It is the “friends” of Jesus, who try to learn and live by his mind and heart, who need to “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.” 

The Responsorial (Psalm 33) proclaims the foundation of our hope: “Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.” 

Prayer Prompt: Am I firmly focused on Christ’s promises? Do I live as one who is grounded in faith, hope, and love?

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #471, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.