21 October 2022 - Friday of the 29th week in 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, St 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 circumstance in life.  I often tell the prisoners that I visit and minister to in the state penitentiary in Pearl that there are perhaps far worst prisons that can confine them in their lives than the bars that they are behind at the state prison in Pearl.  We can be imprisoned by the addictions we have, and those addictions can take many different forms. We can be imprisoned by our pride, our arrogance, our closed-mindedness, and our anger.  Many of the prisoners I visit admit that they still are addicted to the drugs that they get their hands on even behind prison bars. In addition, we can be imprisoned by false expectations & a false sense of values, imprisoned by clinging to the values of the world & our worldly appetites that never seem to be satisfied. Paul calls us to the one Body, the one Spirit, the one faith.  That faith can set us free.