Today is Halloween. In many places, this holiday is an opportunity to dress up as something scary and threatening. Then, when those frightening figures knock on our doors, we open them with delight and laughter, hospitably offering the “monsters” treats and words of kindness. The pageantry of Halloween encourages us to look through threatening exteriors to see hidden joy and beauty. In today’s excerpt from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he encourages his readers not to be consumed by fear that leads to hostility. Instead, we should use righteousness, truth, and peace (the “armor of God”) so that we might “be watchful . . . for the holy ones.” To love as Christ loved means we are called to look beyond threats and fear to find the holiness that often lies hidden beneath.  

In today’s Gospel, Jesus refuses to let threats from Jerusalem stop him from loving Jerusalem. His way of life has been to love all sinners as children of God, calling them to conversion. When he is threatened and harmed, he refuses to pick up swords and shields, because the truth is that his attackers are beloved children of God in desperate need of conversion. So, he prays for their forgiveness, not their destruction. Like Jesus, we are called to encourage one another so that we might not give into seeing the world as a terrible place filled with enemies to be conquered. Rather, we must help one another find the strength to continue on the way of discipleship—today, tomorrow, and the following day.