Predikan i samband med de europeiska biskoparnas vallfärd till Santiago de Compostella i april 2004

Meditation on Ephesians 2:19 – 22

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

we are part of God’s household! How do we realise this in our everyday life ? We who are gathered here on this pilgrimage certainly know intellectually what it means to be part of God’s household and we are able to give a lot of beautiful images and attributes to this reality. But is it visible for our brothers and sisters around us, for those who would not say that they are part of God’s household ? Especially for all those who find little if any meaning in their lives, for all those who have come to Europe to seek refuge and are denied the status as refugee, for all those who are socially and economically marginalized in our European house ? Do they consider themselves as fellow citizens in God’s household ?

The author of the letter to the Ephesians is not talking about a well-structured church and therefore not making an anonymous structure or system responsible for the way God’s household is concretised. The most he can be thinking of are the different parish-like groupings in his own geographical setting. Whose responsibility is it then that we are fellow-citizens in this household of God ? For the author it seems to be clear that each baptized person is an adopted son to God through Jesus Christ (cf v. 5a) and therefore enjoys both rights and duties within this household of God and consequently bears the responsibility for its contents and face to the surrounding world.

One of the most vital things for a human person is to be able to say that he or she is belonging to a family or a specific group. We are becoming what we are through the calling of another person or group of persons. We are given a vocation through the relations we are either physically born into or socially brought up with. It is vital for a human being to belong to a household. The author of the letter is mainly considering three big groupings, the Jews, the Christians and the pagans and they all belong to one society. As he is addressing the Christians he is aware of the fact that they have different ethnical backgrounds, both Jewish and pagan. Now, they all have the one and same citizenship, the right of access to God’s household, the social as well as spiritual house.

How do we concretise this fellow citizenship in God’s household and in Europe today ?  On a social and political level we the Christians of all denominations in Europe, must welcome our brothers and sisters from the new member-countries in the European Union with the same rights and duties we enjoy. This should however be fairly easy to agree on for us Christians. But how does this household looks inside?

The foundations of the household are the apostles and the prophets and Christ Jesus is its cornerstone. Even if this seems to be a very Christian building, this body cannot be without its Jewish origins; the prophets, Jesus and the apostles were all Jews and the barrier between the Jews and the pagans has been broken down. Through Abraham we are all, Jews, Christians and Muslims part of the covenants of the Promise, and have a special and personal relationship with the One God. We are, as the author of our letter says, being built up into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit.

This dwelling-place must be where we all can be confirmed in our different ways of expressing our faith, confirmed in our vocation of belonging to a faith-group, whether we come from different rites within the Catholic Church, whether we come from different Churches and denominations, whether we come from different religions, and perhaps most importantly, whether we come from an agnostic milieu or from a context where we are searching for a meaning of our life. The best testimony of the citizens of this dwelling-place is to share its joy of belonging, belonging to a family, to a household in Europe, and to the European household as such. The household of God, his temple, is an open house where access is not denied, but a dinner-table where there is always an empty seat for the unexpected friend, the unexpected other. We might feel bewildered among the diversity of rites, denominations and faiths, but our security lies on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of this building. It is he who holds everything together, not we. We can only enjoy in and share this gift with others of being fellow-citizens in God’s own household! And this joy lies not in conformity but in a rich diversity, not in exclusion but in inclusion, not in excommunication but in communication, a dialogue, a walking together with equal rights and duties.

Let us pray to the Lord that we may better understand the calling to a fellow citizenship!

Sr Madeleine Fredell OP