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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF WEDNESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER [1982]
The general audience of 15 September took place in St Peter's
Square in the presence of a large crowd of people. Pope John Paul
continued his discourse on the text of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians,
and spoke as follows:
1. We have before us the text of the Letter to the Ephesians 5:21-33,
which we have already been analyzing for some time because of its
importance in regard to marriage and the sacrament. In its whole
content, beginning from the first chapter, the letter treats above all
of the mystery for ages hidden in God as a gift eternally destined for
mankind. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love
to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his
will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us
in the Beloved" (Eph 1:3-6).
2. Until now the letter speaks of the mystery hidden for ages in God
(Eph 3:9). The subsequent phrases introduce the reader to the phase of
fulfillment of this mystery in the history of man. The gift, destined
for him for ages in Christ, becomes a real part of man in the same
Christ: "...in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he
lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight
the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in
Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph 1:7-10).
3. And so the eternal mystery passed from the mystery of "being hidden
in God" to the phase of revelation and actualization. Christ, in whom
humanity was for ages chosen and blessed "with every spiritual blessing
of the Father"—Christ,
destined according to the eternal "plan" of God, so that in him, as in a
head "all things might be united, things in heaven and things on earth"
in the eschatological perspective—reveals
the eternal mystery and accomplishes it among men. Therefore the author
of the Letter to the Ephesians, in the remainder of the letter, exhorts
those who have received this revelation, and those who have accepted it
in faith, to model their lives in the spirit of the truth they have
learned. To the same end, in a particular way he exhorts Christian
couples, husbands and wives.
4. For the greater part of the context the letter becomes instruction or
parenesis. The author seems to speak above all of the moral
aspects of the vocation of Christians. However, he continually refers to
the mystery which is already at work in them, by virtue of the
redemption of Christ—and
efficaciously works in them especially by virtue of Baptism. He writes:
"In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy
Spirit" (Eph 1:13). Thus the moral aspects of the Christian vocation
remain linked not only with the revelation of the eternal divine mystery
in Christ and with its acceptance through faith, but also with the
sacramental order. Although it is not placed in the forefront in the
whole letter, it seems to be present in a discreet manner. It could not
be otherwise seeing that the Apostle is writing to Christians who,
through Baptism, had become members of the ecclesial community. From
this point of view, the passage of the Letter to the Ephesians, chapter
5:21-33, analyzed up to the present, seems to have a special importance.
Indeed, it throws a special light on the essential relationship of the
mystery with the sacrament and especially on the sacramentality of
matrimony.
5. At the heart of the mystery, there is Christ. In him—precisely
in him—humanity
has been eternally blessed "with every spiritual blessing." In him, in
Christ, humanity has been chosen "before the creation of the world,"
chosen in love and predestined to the adoption of sons. When later, in
the fullness of time this eternal mystery is accomplished in time, this
is brought about also in him and through him; in Christ and through
Christ. The mystery of divine love is revealed through Christ. Through
him and in him it is accomplished. In him, "We have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses..." (Eph 1:7). In this
manner men who through faith accept the gift offered to them in Christ,
really become participants in the eternal mystery, even though it works
in them under the veil of faith. According to the Letter to the
Ephesians 5:21-33, this supernatural conferring of the fruits of
redemption accomplished by Christ acquires the character of a spousal
donation of Christ himself to the Church, similar to the spousal
relationship between husband and wife. Therefore, not only the fruits of
redemption are a gift, but above all, Christ himself is a gift. He gives
himself to the Church as to his spouse.
6. We should ask whether in this matter such an analogy does not permit
us to penetrate the essential content of the mystery more profoundly and
with greater exactitude. We should ask ourselves this question with all
the greater reason because this classic passage of the Letter to the
Ephesians (5:21-33) does not appear in the abstract and isolated. But it
constitutes a continuity. In a certain sense it is a continuation of the
statements of the Old Testament, which presented the love of God-Yahweh
for his chosen people Israel according to the same analogy. We are
dealing in the first place with the texts of the prophets who, in their
discourses, introduced the similarity of spousal love in order to
characterize in a particular way the love which Yahweh has for Israel.
On the part of the chosen people, this love was not understood and
reciprocated. Rather it encountered infidelity and betrayal. That
infidelity and betrayal was expressed especially in idolatry, a worship
given to strange gods.
7. Truth to tell, in the greater part of the cases, the prophets were
pointing out in a dramatic manner that very betrayal and infidelity
which were called the "adultery" of Israel. However, the explicit
conviction that the love of Yahweh for the chosen people can and should
be compared to the love which unites husband and wife is at the basis of
all these statements of the prophets. Here one could quote many passages
from Isaiah, Hosea and Ezekiel. (Some of these were already quoted when
we were analyzing the concept of adultery against the background of
Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount.) One cannot forget that to
the patrimony of the Old Testament belongs also the Song of Solomon, in
which the image of spousal love is traced—it
is true—without
the typical analogy of the prophetic texts, which presented in that love
the image of the love of Yahweh for Israel, but also without that
negative element which, in the other texts, constitutes the motive of
"adultery" or infidelity. Thus then the analogy of the spouses, which
enabled the author of the Letter to the Ephesians to define the
relationship of Christ to the Church, possesses an abundant tradition in
the books of the Old Testament. In analyzing this analogy in the classic
text of the Letter to the Ephesians, we cannot but refer to that
tradition.
8. To illustrate this tradition we will limit ourselves for the moment
to citing a passage of Isaiah. The prophet says: "Fear not, for you will
not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame; for
you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your
widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the
Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when
she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but
with great compassion I will gather you...but my steadfast love shall
not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says
the Lord, who has compassion on you" (Is 54:4-7,10).
During our next meeting we shall begin the analysis of the text cited
from Isaiah.
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