16 October 2014
Memorial of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
Through the letters to the churches in the Mediterranean, such as Galatians or Ephesians, the foundational aspects of the Christian faith, despite much persecution, are revealed. Having finished walking through the letter to the Galatians, we turn to the next letter, the letter to the Ephesians, which primarily emphasizes the unity in the Church. The Church’s purpose is to be an instrument for making God’s plan of salvation known throughout the universe for both Jews and Gentiles. While we will get the rest of this opening section tomorrow, Ephesians 1:3-14 presents the “roles” of the Trinity. The Father’s plan of salvation is to unify all people back to God through Jesus because those baptized have been sealed with the Spirit. This same emphasis of salvation through the Divine is reiterated in the psalm as we repeat, “The Lord has made known his salvation” (Psalm 95).
Today, we celebrate the memorial of Saint Mary Alacoque, a seventeenth century Visitation sister who helped to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On this day, we pray for all the Visitation Sisters and we ask that Jesus through His most Sacred Heart strengthen and console all of us.