engagement and estrangement
"This means that you are strangers and aliens no longer." —Ephesians 2:19
Formerly we were strangers and aliens to God and quite at home with the ways of the world. Now we are strangers and exiles (1 Pt 2:11) to the world, "fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph 2:19). By the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been crucified to the world and the world to us (Gal 6:14). Because of our relationship with Jesus, we have become estranged and alienated from that worldly system which ignores or rejects the lordship of Jesus (Phil 3:8).
For every engagement, there's an estrangement. To be engaged to God, we must be estranged from the world. We cannot serve two masters (Mt 6:24). If we have love for the world and the things that the world affords, "the Father's love has no place" in us (1 Jn 2:15). "A man is marked out as God's enemy if he chooses to be the world's friend" (Jas 4:4). Jesus said: "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Lk 11:23). Choose Jesus and reject the ways of the world.
Prayer: Father, may I feel less and less at home in this world.
Promise: "It will go well with those servants whom the Master finds wide-awake on His return. I tell you, He will put on an apron, seat them at table, and proceed to wait on them." —Lk 12:37
Praise: St. Anthony, through devotion to the Eucharist and the Immaculate Heart, became so estranged from the world that he was targeted in an assassination attempt.
Reference: (For a related teaching, order our tape Spiritual Adultery on audio AV 53-1 or video V-53.)
Rescript: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 6, 2006
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