In yesterday‘s First Reading Paul, addressing the Ephesians, reminded us that we’ve been chosen to be holy and blameless in God’s sight since before the foundation of the world. Today he expounds on how we are chosen in Christ and for what we are chosen: we exist in order to praise God, and Our Lord helps us to do that. Praising God may not seem all that exciting a vocation, but how many people do we applaud when they simply entertain us, and how much more has God done for us to merit praise?
The Lord doesn’t expect praise in a vacuum, just as we normally applaud someone who has accomplished something, whether noble or entertaining. We praise the Lord here on earth because we’ve already received the “first installment,” as Paul describes it, of our redemption. When we believe and are baptized our redemption begins, right here, right now, and Jesus was a hero to make it happen. That merits our praise now, and we can only imagine how much more we’ll want to praise God in eternity when our redemption is complete, free from sin, death, and fear.
Let’s meditate on the “first installment” we’ve received in our life today and give Our Lord a round of applause.
Readings: Ephesians 1:11–14; Psalm 33:1–2, 4–5, 12–13; Luke 12:1–7. See also 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday and 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.
