Ephesians 1:1-10. The opening of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul greets them and reminds them that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing, because he chose us "before the foundation of the world" to be with him, holy and blameless. He destined us in love, through his Son, to be his children, all in accordance with his will. He freely bestows all the graces on us we need to be reconciled with him through Christ, whose blood has redeemed us and purchased forgiveness of our sins. He lavishes the riches of his grace upon us! And he has made known to us, in wisdom and insight, the mystery of his will - that he has set forth a plan in and through Christ to unite all things to him, in heaven and on earth, in the fullness of time.

This was the second reading at Mass this Sunday, and I got it again today, so God really is telling me to focus on this! He has given us the wisdom and insight to understand! Not everything, not yet, but enough to see that he has a plan and it is playing out over time. Time is necessary for all of us - every single one of us that he created or will create - to be reconciled to him through Christ. Time is the means by which God allows us to experience the things that will bring us back to him through Christ. There was a fullness of time for Christ's first coming, there is a fullness of time for Christ's second coming, and there is a fullness of time for all of us, and our individual salvation.

Yesterday, I wrote about how I so often am asking God these days "How long must this all go on?" God clearly answered my question by giving me this reading both on Sunday and today. Paul tells me God has given me enough wisdom to see that his will is to reconcile all things to him, in heaven on earth, and that takes time. It is not all about me, and the people I love. It is not for me to know how much time, or to complain that it is taking too long for my liking - I should instead rejoice in the fact that he is giving everyone, myself included, the time they need to be fully prepared and ready to accept Christ, and accept salvation through him.

It will happen in "the fullness of time," just as Jesus' first coming did. And when it happens, the unity of all things in him in heaven and on earth will be brought back, just as he has planned it from the beginning!