Be Filled

Welcome to another episode of the podcast! In this episode we are continuing to examine with John Paul II the text of Ephesians Chapter 5 on the “great mystery” revealed in the Sacrament of Marriage and in the love of Christ and the Church. We will be discussing Audiences 91-93. This is a great conversation and one of the more vulnerable episodes we have had in the podcast! Enjoy! Don’t forget you can watch the podcast on our YouTube Channel! We are also on Facebook and Instagram! Follow us and share with a friend! 

Quotes: 

“...the author speaks as if in marriage also the husband were “head of his wife” and the wife “body of her husband”, as if spouses also formed an organic union.” (TOB 91:2) “...the Church is so strongly, so essentially herself in virtue of a union with the (mystical) Christ.” (TOB 91:3) 

“Christ and his Church thus together make up the “whole Christ” (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ.” (CCC# 795) St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Head and members form as it were one and the same mystical person.” 

“And you, husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water accompanied by the word, so as to present his Church before himself all glorious, without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind but holy and immaculate.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) 

“The essential goal of the love of Christ for the Church is her sanctification…(Baptism) is the purification through which Christ’s love for the Church gains a spousal character”. (TOB 91:6) 

“The one who receives Baptism becomes at the same time-by virtue of the redemptive love of Christ-a participant in his spousal love for the Church.” (TOB 91:7) “Christ, therefore with his redemptive and spousal love brings it about that the Church not only becomes sinless, but remains “eternally young”. (TOB 92:2) 

“In the same way, husbands have the duty to love their wives as their own bodies, for the one who loves his wife loves himself. No one, in fact, ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cares for it, as Christ does with the Church, because we are members of his body.” (Ephesians 5:28-30) “...the husband is above all the one who loves and the wife, by contrast, is the one who is loved. One might even venture the idea that the wife’s “submission” to the husband…means above all “the experiencing of love.” (TOB 92:6) 

“The expressions referring to care for the body, and above all for its nourishment, to providing food for it, suggest to a number of Scripture scholars a reference to the Eucharist, with which Christ, in his spousal love, “feeds the Church.” (TOB 92:8) 

“For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and unite with his wife, and the two will form one flesh. (Genesis 2:24) (Ephesians 5:31) “By quoting the words of Genesis 2:24, the author emphasizes that the bases of this analogy should be sought in the line that writes, in God’s salvific plan, marriage as the most ancient revelation (and “manifestation”) of that plan in the created world with the definitive revelation and “manifestation”, namely, the revelation that Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her” endowing his redemptive love with a spousal nature and meaning.” (TOB 93:1) 

“This mystery is great, I say this with reference to Christ and the Church.” (Ephesians 5:32) 

Reflection Questions:

1. What spoke to your heart most in this episode of the podcast? 
2. Have you ever considered the “organic” unity of Christ with the Church? How does this impact your view of the Church as the Body of Christ? 
3. Contemplate the love of Christ. He wants intimacy with YOU. He suffered for YOU without counting the cost. What stirs in your heart when you think of this truth? 
4. In your family how do you pour yourself out everyday? How could this draw you closer to Christ? 
5. Have you bought into the culture’s message to not be changed by your marriage or sacrifice anything? Have you considered that you will actually find yourself by becoming a sincere gift of self? Pray about this and ask the Lord to show you how you can allow your heart to change through your relationship with your spouse. 
6. You are indispensable to the Church. Have you considered YOUR impact on the Church? How can you build up the body? 
7. How well are you receiving love? From God? From your spouse? 
8. Do you hunger for the Lord? Ask Him for a deeper recognition of His love and His desire to satisfy you with Himself…especially in the Eucharist. “This is my body, given up for you.” 
9. What parts of yourself are you hiding from the Lord? Are you willing to be vulnerable with him and let him love you there? Are you keeping anything from your husband out of fear or shame? Ask the Lord to sit with you there and speak tenderly to you. 
10. “God wants to marry you.” What are your thoughts about this? 

Resources: 

The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Luisa Piccarreta

Audio: Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/mark-july/chase-the-sun

License code: Y7RHEFYCSRNIHCCU