23 October 2020 – Friday of 29th week of Ordinary Time – Ephesians 4:1-6

      We have been hearing from Paul’s letters to the Galatians and the Ephesians these past several weeks.  Today, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes how he is a prisoner of the Lord.  Paul indeed was imprisoned in Rome at the time that he wrote this letter.  Even though he was behind bars, he was able to exhort the Ephesians to be patient, gentle, and humble.  He was also probably praying that he himself would be follow those same virtues in his challenging situation in life.  I used to tell the prisoners that I used to visit and minister to in the state penitentiaries that there were far worst prisons that can confine them in their lives than the bars that they were behind.  We can be imprisoned by the addictions we have, and those addictions can take many different forms.  In fact, many of the prisoners I visited admitted to me that they still were addicted to the drugs that they got their hands on even behind those bars. We can be imprisoned by false expectations and sense of values, imprisoned by clinging the to values of the world and our worldly appetites that never seem to be satisfied. Paul calls us to the one Body, the one Spirit, the one faith.

     As we hear this exhortation from St Paul, we celebrate the saint of the day, St John of Capistrano. When I grew up as a teenager in Orange County, California, the town named after him, San Juan Capistrano, home of the famous California mission founded by St Junipero Serra, was close by.  We could perhaps relate to St John of Capistrano today, since he lived in an era of great crisis and turmoil.  As we think of the challenges we face today, imagine the era St John of Capistrano was born into in the 14th century. The bubonic plague wiped out 33% of the population and 40% of the Catholic clergy.  A schism split the Church where there were rival popes.  England and France were in the midst of the 100 Years War.  We are faced with turmoil today with the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest, but it pales in comparison to the reality of St John of Capistrano in the 14th century.  After serving in government, he was ordained a Franciscan priest.  In an era of great religious apathy and confusion, John of Capistrano traveled around Europe with his Franciscan companions, trying to revive the faith of the people.  His work was not easy.  He was also enlisted to preach a crusade for the defense of Europe.  He died after the siege of Belgrade in 1456.  St John of Capistrano, pray for us.