a.d. means after death
"This means that you are strangers and aliens no longer." —Ephesians 2:19
Before we were baptized into Jesus Christ (see Rm 6:3), we "were strangers to the covenant and its promise" (Eph 2:12). We "were without hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12). We were far from God (Eph 2:13, 17). Without Christ, a barrier stood between ourselves and God (see Mt 27:51) and between Gentiles and Jews (Eph 2:14).
Jesus changed all this through His cross (Eph 2:16). "This means that you are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God. You form a building which rises on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the Capstone" (Eph 2:19-20). "Once you were no people, but now you are God's people; once there was no mercy for you, but now you have found mercy" (1 Pt 2:10).
Before we lived in and for Christ, we were dead (Eph 2:1). After becoming new creations in Christ, we began to live. Therefore, we:
- owe the Lord constant thanks and praise forever,
- must love people enough to tell them the good news of Jesus, and
- should rejoice in the Lord always (Phil 4:4).
We are in A.D., not B.C. Praise; witness; rejoice!
Prayer: Father, may my every breath be a "thank-you" to You.
Promise: "It will go well with those servants whom the master finds wide-awake on his return." —Lk 12:37
Praise: The bishop laid his hands on Jane as he conferred the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Before she could even reach her seat, the Holy Spirit gave Jane the gift of praying in tongues.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, April 2, 1996
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 3, 1996