It’s year B again in the Novus Ordo’s three years cycle of Gospel readings and therefore time for a Novus Ordo second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5 about the relationship of Christ and His Church and of mean and women.
Once every three years in the Novus Ordo readings, those who choose to fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation on the 2st Ordinary Sunday are in these USA read either Ephesians 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32. O the trauma.
Allow me to traumatize those of you who went to the Vetus Ordo last Sunday, instead of the Novus Ordo. Let’s see the troublesome reading using the suboptimal NAB which afflicts Novus Ordo goers weekly, I’ll indicate the part that the editors of the Word of God decided could be omitted:
Brothers and sisters:
[21] Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
[22] Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is head of his wife
just as Christ is head of the church,
he himself the savior of the body.
As the church is subordinate to Christ,
so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
[25] Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church
and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
that he might present to himself the church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the church,
because we are members of his body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
This is a great mystery,
but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.or [redacted optional version]
Brothers and sisters:
[2a] Live in love, as Christ loved us.[…]
[25] Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church…etc.
I dismiss with contempt the craven dodgers who choose to read the shorter, bowdlerized version. The nerve.
This comes up only once every three years in the Novus Ordo lectionary. It is not read in the Vetus Ordo. The closest we get is Eph 5:15-21 (RSV):
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, 20 always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. 21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
The other day I posted something germane to the topic of wives being subordinate to their husbands in an explication of what going on in Paul’s thought about angels and women covering their heads. HERE Bringing up chapel veils for women always get’s things going. I had been sent links to an article about the increase in the the number of young women choosing to wear chapel veils. I was, frankly, entirely unaware that the Ephesians 5 reading was last Sunday in the Novus Ordo.
Anyway, I bring to your attention two contrasting pieces posted post “Ephesians Five Sunday”.
One of them is from the loopy Where Peter Is site, which one should mainly avoid along with the Fishwrap. As a friend put it about their posting, all the verbiage says that Paul was just a 1st century rube. We’ve got the enlightened skinny now. Here’s an emblematic line:
And what does the current Magisterium teach about Ephesians 5? It avoids the language of headship and centers the line about mutual submission as the heart of what God is revealing through St. Paul’s letter.
The “current Magisterium”… gotta love that.
On the other hand, at Crisis there is a piece which is somewhat more Catholic. Here’s an exemplary bit:
Who do you think knows how to construct a godly marriage: the middle-aged women who showed up for 11:30 Mass, or God Himself, speaking through His Word? Has God changed His mind and admitted that He only inspired Paul to write “wives be subordinate to your husbands” because He used to think women were property but now the feminists have reeducated Him?
It is worth reading.
Compare and contrast.
Or… ignore the first one as a waste of time and just read the second.
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I assisted at a Novus Ordo Mass where the “problematic” stuff about wives being submissive was omitted. He told me when I asked that it was difficult to explain to Mass-goers. It’s a good thing that he’s not in a position in which it’s his job to understand and explain the scripture.
The part about submission IS read, IIRC, in the wedding Mass in the TLM. Back then, that alone would’ve been PLENTY of exposure because people actually got married rather than “shacking up” or having “situationships” or “flirtationships.”
The NO Sunday mass I attended had the second reading as the full version as you have written out here Father. Nothing omitted. It’s beautiful and true and it’s sad anyone would have an issue with anything in it. Also I’m in Canada so to not have it edited/omitted quite honestly is a surprise based on how liberal things can be in this country.
Celesam possesionem uxorem viri sum!! Omnes ave meam summum ducem (virum)!!!
Again with the washing machines, as with my previous comment, avoid the “energy saving” devices like the plague. Likewise any of the big box stores. They are poison. Many of them do NOT have any of their products in stock. Locally we have a small regional appliance store that these big box guys go to for immediate deliveries. And only Frigidaire and Westinghouse appliances are made in North America or Canada, which is a huge issue for availability of parts. You do not want LG or Samsung (especially). A later model washer from a local appliance store (who install themselves) will probably serve you longer and better than any of the new big-box guys.
I’m a church musician who sang at two NO Masses on Sunday. Long form at both!
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Correction: Not Westinghouse but Whirlpool. Whirlpool one of the good manufacturers in US or Canada (not overseas). We got a Whirlpool dishwasher installed by our local appliance repair guy. But he was actually able to order it himself for us, then install and service. Same guy to call for all appliances. That’s the way it should be.
Plus: In my opinion, do not go for the ice maker refrigerators. Aside from the extra installation issue, it is preferable to have your own water filtration system, not that of your appliance. I use a separate Santeria water pitcher/filter inside my fridge. It makes really great alkaline water. Some people like the Berkey counter top water filters. But if you keep it out of fridge, there is no need to get the more expensive fridge models with ice makers. Could buy a simpler model this way and small as we needed for our kitchen. I use a variety of silicon ice maker molds inside my upper freezer. Easy. You can manage your own water filtration.
I am a lector at the parish I attend, and was given the option by the priest for the short or long version. He gave me the option because his homily wasn’t going to be about the second reading, just the first and the gospel.
I, of course, chose the long version.
I was unable to attend Mass this Sunday because BOTH of our family vehicles broke down at the same time, and had to be towed to a garage in another town 12 miles away! My husband suggested going to the Lutheran church a couple of blocks away from our house, since they were having a picnic/festival after their service to which everyone in our small town was invited. So we attended their service (it did not include Communion but was very similar to our Liturgy of the Word). Their service included this reading and it was read in its entirety, but the pastor didn’t touch on it in his sermon, except maybe very indirectly by referring to God creating all beings, including man and woman, “good” with a specific place and function in creation.
I was at the standard Catholic mass offered in most of the world last Sunday.
How we suffer. My hats off to those who God choose to give those extra graces where by you get the traditions of the Church, but you probably don’t live in Australia. The level of debt acquired in that exchange is usually not really appreciated by the persons to whom the graces were given, in my humble opinion.
Any how the priest is really rather good I prayed for this guy to be sent to us for quite a few years before we had good preaching and now we do have good preaching, but he did not pick this as his homily material. Too many feminists at the church. I would guess. He did give a cracker homily about the other readings. He was a bit on fire. Continuing the bread of life discourse and are you going to leave me too?
Sometimes, quietly to myself, I think on how badly Susan from the parish council (who goes to my mass) would have her head explode if he did mention that reading.
Alas the danger is past and we won’t here about it for another three years. Assuming the standard mass has another three years in it. Which in my humble opinion is not a given thing.
It is not read in the Vetus Ordo during the year, but it is read on Nuptial Mass. We recently had the honor of inflicting the Ephesians 5 trauma on our wedding guests. A few of the oldest ones still remembered the traditional Mass. One of my great-aunts later told us that it was just as she remembered it, but in her day it was never that beautiful, and she thanked us for making her see it one more time. It was heartwarming.
That’s a true gem you mentioned, Father, that I think is worth repeating again (and again and again and again…..as many times as is needed….7×70…lol):
“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
AAAAhhhhhmen
We need to be serious and wise and not just mindlessly view scriptures through the lens of our modern understanding, but look at it as God intended it and in context of the times, perhaps? Although, the relationship of men and women and the reality of gender in and outside of corporeal existence, is eternal…God is always God, Jesus is always Jesus, the Holy Spirit is always the Holy Spirit. God is always male. Hence Mary is always female.
She is the Mother of God, Queen of Heaven…the highest ranking of all creatures. No man is above the Queen of Heaven. Yet she submitted herself to her husband Joseph. But he also submitted himself to her….look at how he tirelessly sought to find a good place for her in Bethlehem. THAT is sacrifice. That is service.
(In proof reading this it dawned on me WHY THE PROTTIES HATE MARY! She is above them…that jams up their whole understanding of women and men. They cannot accept her as Queen of Heaven! DOH!)
It also seems when some quote the text relating to the marital relationship as outlined in Ephesians, they tend to skip the first sentence….perhaps the topic sentence? Thank you for emphasizing it, Father. It is sooo beautiful in the Greek:
????????????? ???????? ?? ???? ???????:
“Be submitting yourselves to one another in reverence of Christ.”
?????????????
Be submitting….a continuing act of submitting ourselves….to our spouses in reverence of Christ. There is no better definition of marriage. Here all of the elements are present. Not just the uga buga “Me Tarzan, you Jane” of, “Oi! Wives submit to your husbands!”
This is the main thrust of what Saint Paul is saying. We are to be continually submitting ourselves to one another in marriage. Then he gets into the finer details, but I think we have to bring those back to that main statement of mutual submission.
The point of marriage is to be a source and vehicle of the creative element of the universe, Love. As we know, God has given us free will, because love cannot be demanded of a subject, but is a free will offering of a free heart…given willingly by ones own submission, not via coercion nor by force of authority. That would be a misuse of authority, an abuse. It makes love impossible. Hence it cannot be not what Saint Paul was preaching.
As with all things in God’s creation, there is hierarchy. As such, the husband is the head, kephal?, of the household, just as Jesus is head, kephal?, of the Church. (Lol! Jesus and his corney dad jokes! Cepha, kephal?, lol…I just got it!)
Ephesians 5: 21-28
Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the church; 33 however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
If we stop at “wives be subject to your husbands” or worse in other translations, and take it as a stand alone out of the context of the whole, we lose the correct understanding of what Saint Paul is saying….it becomes a thing lacking in love, lacking in the beauty that the relationship of the man and woman united in marriage is intended to be….It becomes a cudgel and we lose the thread of the Gospel, entirely.
If we are to win the Final Battle for Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, we better get this right.
Oh and P.S. As I frequently remind my teenage boys: Jesus Christ, the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Eternal Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Creator of the Universe and everything in it, submitted Himself to His parents, His mother, Mary and His step-father, Joseph.
??? ?????? ???’ ????? ??? ????? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ????????????? ??????
And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and He was subject to them
There’s that word again: ?????????????
Do you think Mary and Joseph lorded authority over Jesus? Is Jesus inferior to Mary and/or Joseph? Is that what that word implies?
I don’t think that word (?????????????) means what some Christian men of every denomination think that word means….
St Jerome and Origin held divergent views than Chrysostom and other Church Fathers on this topic:
https://stpaulcenter.com/07-nv-14-3-clark-whitters/
samwise: That’s isn’t very helpful. “Mentio non fit expositio!”
St. Paul also speaks about marriage in 1 Corinthians 7 it says in part:
*
” 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control.”
*
Marriage is based on a covenant between the husband and the wife. It is the exchange of persons. Christ’s New and Everlasting Covenant, on which the Church was founded, was linked to the Eucharist by Christ in the Institution at the Last Supper. The Eucharist is the living embodiment of this covenant. The battle over marriage and worthy reception of the Eucharist is one over covenant and covenantal fidelity. Whether the Church and her members are capable of keeping their covenants, promises, and vows. If Satan can turn us into a church full of covenant breakers and/or people incapable of even making covenants to begin with this strikes a blow against Christ’s New and Everlasting Covenant and His salvific act on the Cross, which the Eucharist embodies. Satan is playing for all the marbles, and is using our sexual weaknesses against us to further his agenda.
If the NAB is suboptimal*, what would Father (or anyone else willing and knowledgeable in the saloon) recommend?
*I’m no expert on translations (clearly), but I’ve been accustomed to the NAB because that’s what my grandparents gave me at confirmation when I completed RCIA. I will say there are some eyebrow-raising statements in the commentaries of the 3rd edition NAB study Bible I recently acquired. I also have a New Jerusalem Bible that a co-worker gave me back when I started RCIA (physically small so very handy for travel, and Prof. Tolkien apparently translated Jonah) and my dad’s (requiescat in pace) old King James (his family was Baptist but Dad converted to marry Mom).
Would RSV-CE be a sounder choice, or Douay-Rheims? Thank you.
Exegesis for St Jerome and Origin agrees with @KateD:
“It is sooo beautiful in the Greek:
????????????? ???????? ?? ???? ???????:
“Be submitting yourselves to one another in reverence of Christ.”
?????????????
Be submitting….a continuing act of submitting ourselves….to our spouses in reverence of Christ. There is no better definition of marriage”
Chrysostom and other Church Fathers saw marriage as more hierarchical, like in the army.
Mulieris Dignitatem clearly draws from Jerome and Origin.
@OldProfK:
Fr Haydock’s versión of DR is stellar. His commentary frequently sites St Jerome and other Fathers along with counter-“reformation” Saints like Bellarmine
OldProfK:
*
I’m a long time participant in Bible study at my parish. One version the presenters like is the RSV-CE. I was told that only the actual text of the books of the Bible are inerrant, and that his doesn’t apply to footnotes, etc.
*
A well presented Bible study can give people the cultural context of the time period which the books of the Bible cover. I have gone through many by Ascension Press and Dr. Brant Pitre. Dr. Pitre has many videos on YouTube. He has done a lot of work on the Jewish roots of Catholicism. Dr. Brant Pitre has two presentations about the bible “The Origin of the Bible: Human Invention or Divine Intervention?” and “Introduction to the Bible: Inspiration, Inerrancy, Interpretation, and the Interior Life.” The presentations are for sale, but you can download free PDF outlines of these presentations from his website. I’ve also done some of the Lecito series by Augustine Institute. It is available on the Formed.org website as well as for sale. Some parishes have subscriptions to Formed that cover access by all the parishioners.
*
Good presenters can do the legwork in assembling the study materials and make it possible for the student to get more out of the time spent on the Bible study than they would trying to do it on their own.