Transformed Within, Expressed Without: The Harmony of Faith

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

I've been sitting with these readings all week, and they've really struck me as two sides of the same coin. Paul talks to the Ephesians about this amazing inner transformation - Christ actually dwelling in our hearts. And then Jesus, in that dinner scene from Luke, shows us what happens when that inner reality shapes how we live day to day.

 

I think we all know that our faith isn't just something private, kept inside us. But it's also not just about going through the motions on the outside. It's both. It's about letting God change us from the inside out.

 

The Council of Trent clarifies something we all experience: when God's grace transforms us inside, it naturally shows up in how we treat others. Today, let's talk about how these two dimensions of faith - the inner and the outer - actually work together in our everyday lives as Catholics.

 

Let's look at what Paul is praying for the Ephesians.

 

He writes: "That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

 

Paul isn't just saying, "Hey, I hope you know about God's love." He's saying, "I hope God's Spirit strengthens you from the inside out." This is where it all starts - in that inner space where Christ comes to live through our faith.

 

I love the words Paul uses here - being "rooted and grounded in love." Think about a tree with deep roots. When storms come, that tree stands firm. That's what happens when Christ dwells in our hearts - we become grounded, stable, rooted.

 

And notice that Paul talks about knowing "the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge." He's talking about a kind of knowing that goes beyond facts in our head. It's more like how you know a family member or close friend - not just information about them, but a relationship with them.

 

And here's the beautiful part - we don't make this happen ourselves. Paul makes it clear this comes "according to the riches of his glory" and through "his Spirit." It's God reaching out to us first. Our part is simply to open the door through faith.

 

You know, this inner transformation that Paul describes is exactly what happens in a special way when we receive the Eucharist. The Catechism from the Council of Trent puts it in such a beautiful way - it calls the Eucharist "the soul's spiritual food" that "nourishes our spiritual life."

 

When we eat regular food, our bodies transform that food into us - into energy, into cells, into who we are physically. But the Catechism points out that with the Eucharist, something different happens. Instead of us transforming the Eucharist into ourselves, the Eucharist transforms us into Christ.

 

The Catechism tells us that when we receive this Sacrament with an open heart, we "receive more abundantly the effects of this Sacrament... and are more and more enlightened to know the things of God." That sounds a lot like Paul's prayer that we would be "filled with all the fullness of God,".

 

When we come up to Communion and the priest says, "The Body of Christ," and we respond "Amen" - that simple "Amen" is actually a profound act of faith. It's us opening the door of our hearts to let Christ come in and dwell there. Every time we receive Communion, we're giving Christ another opportunity to transform us from within, to root us more deeply in His love.

 

So what happens when Christ is truly dwelling in our hearts? That's where our Gospel reading comes in. Jesus is at dinner at a Pharisee's house, and He notices how everyone is jockeying for the best seats. We've all been there. Maybe not literally fighting over seats, but we know what it's like to want recognition, to want people to think well of us.

 

Jesus says:

 

 

Now, on the surface, this might sound like Jesus is just giving tips on how to avoid embarrassment. But He's actually talking about something much deeper - He's describing what a transformed heart looks like in action.

 

Earlier in this same passage, Jesus had healed a man with dropsy on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were all caught up in the rules, but Jesus was focused on the person who needed help. Both the healing and this teaching about taking the lowest seat show us that when Christ dwells in our hearts, we start to see people differently. We start to care more about others and less about our own status.

 

Humility isn't about putting yourself down. It's about thinking of others. When Christ truly lives in us, we naturally become more like Him - and He came not to be served, but to serve.

 

Our Catholic tradition has always emphasized that real faith shows itself in how we live. The Catechism of Trent talks a lot about virtues, especially humility, as the natural outward expression of true faith.

 

You know the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? The one where the Pharisee prays, "Thank God I'm not like other people," while the tax collector just says, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner"? The Catechism points to that story (which is similar to our Gospel today) when talking about how we need humility to approach God for forgiveness.

 

The Catechism points out that even the Lord's Prayer teaches us humility right from the start. When we say "Our Father," we're acknowledging that God is everyone's Father - not just mine, not just yours, but ours. That puts us all on equal footing. None of us is more important to God than anyone else.

 

The Council of Trent was really clear that while we're saved by faith, it has to be a living faith that shows itself in love. As the Catechism puts it, "Faith, unless hope and charity be added to it, neither unites one perfectly with Christ, nor makes one a living member of His body." In other words, if our faith doesn't change how we treat others, something's missing.

 

Think about the saints we admire. St. Francis giving up wealth and status to serve the poor. St. Teresa of Ávila, whose deep prayer life fueled her tireless work. They show us what it looks like when inner transformation leads to outward expression.

So where does this leave us today? I think it reminds us that our faith journey has these two essential parts - letting Christ transform us from within, and then living that transformation in our relationships with others.

 

The Eucharist we're about to share is both the means and the model for this. In receiving Christ, He transforms us from within. And in receiving Him, we're also committing ourselves to becoming what we receive - Christ's body given for others.

 

The Catechism reminds us that "the end of all the Commandments is charity" - love of God and love of neighbor (Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part III, The Commandments, The Two Great Commandments). One without the other just doesn't work. Inner transformation without outward expression is incomplete; outward actions without inner transformation are hollow.

 

St. Paul warns against this very danger in his second letter to Timothy, speaking of those who have "the appearance of godliness, but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). We don't want to be people who just go through religious motions without allowing God's grace to transform us from within.

 

This reminds me of St. Paul's words to the Philippians: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). Notice the beautiful balance here - we are called to "work out" our salvation in how we live, but this is only possible because God is already at work within us. The inner transformation empowers the outward expression.

 

So as you go about your week, I invite you to think about both dimensions of your faith:

 

How is Christ dwelling in your heart? Are you making room for Him through prayer, through reading Scripture, through receiving the Sacraments with an open heart?

 

And how is that showing up in your daily life? Are you practicing taking the lowest place? Serving others? Living with genuine humility?

 

God has begun this good work in each of us. My prayer for all of us today echoes Paul's - that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith, and that our faith would express itself in love.

 

May the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, come down on you and remain with you forever. Amen.