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Thursday, October 17, 2002

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St. Ignatius of Antioch


Ephesians 1:3-10
Psalm 98
Luke 11:47-54

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all for jesus

"Bring all things in the heavens and on earth into one under Christ's headship." —Ephesians 1:10

Jesus is God, Lord, and Savior of the world. He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6). "It is He Who is Head of the body, the Church; He Who is the beginning, the First-Born of the dead, so that primacy may be His in everything. It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in Him and, by means of Him, to reconcile everything in His Person" (Col 1:18-20). Jesus' name is "above every other name, so that at Jesus' name every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!" (Phil 2:9-11)

We are disciples of Jesus. We have been given "every spiritual blessing in the heavens" in Jesus (Eph 1:3). We have been chosen in Jesus (Eph 1:4). We were predestined to be God's adopted children through Jesus (Eph 1:5). God's grace is given to us in Jesus (Eph 1:6). "It is in Christ and through His blood that we have been redeemed and our sins forgiven" (Eph 1:7). God included us in the "plan He was pleased to decree in Christ, to be carried out in the fullness of time: namely, to bring all things in the heavens and on earth into one under Christ's headship" (Eph 1:9-10).

"Then I heard the voices of every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea; everything in the universe cried aloud: 'To the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, be praise and honor, glory and might, forever and ever!' " (Rv 5:13) Worship Jesus!

Prayer:  Father, send the Holy Spirit so that I will "grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love" (Eph 3:18).

Promise:  "With trumpets and the sound of the horn sing joyfully before the King, the Lord." —Ps 98:6

Praise:  St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, is said to be the first to use the word "catholic" to describe the Church.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Richard L. Klug, April 10, 2002


Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 18, 2002