Papal Commentary on Canticle in Ephesians 1:3-14

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"From Eternity We Are Before the Eyes of God"

VATICAN CITY, JULY 6, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave at today’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square. He used his talk to reflect on the canticle in the first chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (verses 3-14).
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
  1. Today we did not hear a Psalm but a canticle taken from the Letter to the Ephesians (see 1:3-14), which appears in the Liturgy of Vespers of each of the four weeks. This canticle is a prayer of blessing addressed to God the Father. As it unfolds, it delineates the various stages of the plan of salvation which is realized through the action of Christ.
At the heart of the blessing resounds the Greek word “mysterion,” a term usually associated with the verbs of revelation (“to reveal,” “to know,” “to manifest”). This is, in fact, the great secret plan that the Father had kept to himself from eternity (see verse 9) and that he decided to act on and reveal “for the fullness of times” (see verse 10) in Jesus Christ, his Son.

The stages of this plan are articulated in the canticle by the saving actions of God through Christ in the Spirit. First of all, the Father – this is the first act – chooses us from eternity so that we will be holy and blameless in love (see verse 4), then he predestines us to be his children (see verses 5-6), in addition he redeems us and forgives us our sins (see verses 7-8), he unveils fully to us the mystery of salvation in Christ (see verses 9-10), finally, he gives us our eternal inheritance (see verses 11-12) offering us already as pledge the gift of the Holy Spirit in view of the final resurrection (see verses 13-14).
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