In today's first reading, Ephesians 1: 15-23, St. Paul prays that "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened," Paul prays, "that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe...."
What a prayer! Again, I encourage you to insert your name in that passage, so that it reads, and I paraphrase: "Dorothy Ann (insert your name), God the Father gives you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of Him." What gifts: wisdom, revelation, and knowledge of God Himself! Knowing God, believing in God, surrendering to God, loving God with our whole mind, our whole heart and our whole will is all we ask of You, O God. That is enough for us! But Paul adds: "May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened." The eyes of our hearts are our inner eyes. Maywe see and know God within the very core of our existence. And why does Paul ask that the eyes of our hearts be enlightened? So that we may know "the hope that belongs to [our] call "to praise his glory," ( See Ephesians 1: 11-14) here on earth and in eternity when we possess the inheritance of our redemption. Paul also wants us to be enlightened regarding the "riches of glory in [our] inheritance among the holy ones. and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe." The wealth and the greatness Paul alludes to is beyond our imagination and reduces anything on this earth to rubbish, as Paul also exclaims in his preaching.
Jesus, have mercy on us, when we think and act otherwise!
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