Power for Good

A Reflection on ​the Second Reading for Sunday, August 25th, 2024:
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Ephesians
4.32 – 5.1-2, 21-32

​Brothers and sisters: Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the Church, the body of which he is the Saviour. Just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the Church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind — yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the Church, because we are members of his body.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the Church.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

“I can’t believe she chose this reading!!” 

These words came from a colleague and friend at a non-profit I worked for several years ago. She was referring to her soon-to-be married daughter choosing the above reading as part of her wedding liturgy.  My colleague, the mom, was appalled. What 21st-century mother wouldn’t be when it sounds like her daughter has chosen a reading that talks of a wife being submissive to her husband?  

Everyone gets stuck on the phrase “subject to” or, in other translations, “submit.” In our modern day understanding of what a healthy relationship is, no one should be submissive. That is, no one should give up their power to another. It is especially disheartening to hear such talk in relation to a woman giving over her power to a man. Like… what!?!?

But let’s back up a minute to the beginning of the passage. I think the beginning is often overlooked, yet it sets the context for the whole rest of the reading. “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” These first phrases highlight that the relationship that is key is the one we have with Christ. As followers of Christ we are then called to echo that loving relationship in our relationship with others. Our family members, friends, and spouses. As a woman, and more importantly a daughter of God, I am not called to give my power over to another but rather I am called to support and nourish the power of Christ within me and in the other. I can only hope for the same in return from those I am in relationship with. It’s not odd for Saint Paul to use this image of marriage. It may seem controversial today, but it speaks to the relationship that most closely resembles Christ’s relationship with the Church. Taking part in the sacrament of marriage creates an intimate oneness like no other earthly relationship. It is that deep united intimacy that Christ seeks with His Church. With us. 

But again, let’s not get stuck on the image. Imagery can only take us so far. Giving over any sort of control, self direction, power that I think I have is hard. It’s countercultural to what society asks of us. However, the power I receive in, through, and with Christ is so much more than any power I could ever hold on my own. I know that any power I have was gifted to me from our Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That power is meant to be used to bring out truth, beauty, and goodness in this life. This power increases when joined with Christ’s power and that of the people God has called me to walk with in my life. I am not giving away my power to anyone. I am gifting it back to the One Who gifted to me in the first place. In doing so, I am growing the power of and for good.



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Aurea Sadi

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