The Church at Ephesus bade farewell to Paul well warned of the troubles that would be theirs. Problems that would come to pass because of the preaching of false doctrine by false prophets. Paul had expended three years in preparing them to be on their own. The church of the early centuries believes in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit but has to work out what is the huge Truth that small sentence contains . The apostles are still living and the Evangelists are in the process of completing their remembrances of  being with the Lord, witnessing his acts and listening to his words. St Paul's warnings however, do come to pass and they are only too evident today. One of the amazing things about our Catholic Church is that in spite of all the wranglings, disputes, persecutions internal wars etc St. Paul would still be able to recognise in her the teaching he fought so hard to instil into the Ephesians.

Dear Lord your Holy Spirit fortified your Apostles, Evangelists and the first congregations, let us too be guarded against divisions and let the teaching of Your Church withstand the blasting that is turned on her from every angle by today's world.

There are no two ways about it, the World is not a good thing, God-given human freedom can understand and  control matter even to the centre of the atom and this machine I am using can communicate in a fraction of a second with anywhere in the world. Our World is much more attractive than the World of the first century but it too must pass away. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life; the Word  that will stand. We must use our human freedom be in the World but reject its values, The kingdom of the Lord is not of this world but is the eternal joy promised us by the Resurrections. This is the good thing that we must choose..

Dear Lord, let me not be seduced by the Modern World which has progressed so much since your days on earth. Let me grow in devotion to you so that I can avoid sin and live outside of the World which surrounds me. Send us holy priests as was St Paul  to guide us on our way to you.