The mystery, hidden through all ages, is God's plan to sum up all in Christ.

Thursday, 10/16/14

Today we begin reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. This was a different kind of letter for Paul. While his other letters, like those to the Corinthians and the one to the Galatians, were concerned with particular problems that had arisen in those places.

His Letter to the Ephesians is different. It is a vehicle for making known a truth of importance to Christians everywhere. The truth is that Paul was  given the grace to reveal God’s hidden mystery, it was the plan to sum up the salvation of all mankind in the person of Jesus Christ. In today’s reading that plan is said to be to “sum up all in Christ.”

Now, much can depend on the way we translate Paul’s key phrase. The wording of it in today’s reading tells us that the salvation of all people of all times will only be accomplished through the mediation of Christ.

Now, in 1903 Pope Pius X, entering the papacy used Paul’s words as is motto, however, his Latin translation of Paul’s Greek words came out as, “The plan for the fullness of time to restore all things in Christ.”

Pope Pius X saw all modern innovations as evil. He condemned the theory of Evolution, he condemned Form Criticism of the Scriptures. He condemned  Ecumenical movements. He was set on restoring all scholarship to what it was before the Enlightenment.

When Vatican II came along, the bishops in their official decrees and constitutions went on to approve of many innovations Pope Pius X tried to do away with.

Now, the two hundred bishops gathered in Rome for the first of two weeks of consultations are keeping silent about the agreements reached in the daily sessions, but at the coffee bars they are all making the same observation. They are saying that  they are back again at Vatican II. They feel the same spirit.