Rooted in a Love We Cannot Measure

Fr. Scott A. Haynes

A Meditation on Ephesians 3:13–21

Saint Paul kneels and prays for something extraordinary:

“That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth: to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge” (Ephesians 3:17–19).

There is something almost contradictory in these words. Saint Paul wants us to know a love which surpasses knowledge. Saint John Chrysostom noticed this. He understood that Paul was not asking Christians simply to learn more information about God. There are truths about Christ that can be studied, explained, memorized, and defended, but the love of Christ must also be experienced from within. Chrysostom says that this requires the Holy Ghost strengthening the “inward man.” We cannot measure the love of God from a safe distance. We must allow Christ to dwell within us.

Perhaps this is why Paul first says that we must be “rooted and founded in charity.” A tree survives the storm because of roots that cannot be seen. A great church stands because of foundations hidden beneath the earth. In the same way, the strength of the Christian does not finally come from what others see. It comes from what has taken root in the depths of the soul: faith in Christ, confidence in His mercy, prayer when no consolation is felt, fidelity when life becomes difficult, and the quiet conviction that God has not ceased loving us.

Saint Augustine found another beautiful mystery in Paul's words. When he heard of the “breadth, and length, and height, and depth,” he saw the shape of the Cross. The arms of Christ stretch outward in breadth. The Cross extends upward in height. It reaches downward into the earth in depth. Its length speaks of perseverance until the end. The Christian who wants to discover the dimensions of Christ's love, Augustine suggests, should look at the Crucified Lord.

There is the measure of God's love.

How broad is it? Broad enough for Christ to stretch out His arms for sinners.

How long is it? Long enough to follow us through every season of our life and remain faithful even when we have been unfaithful.

How high is it? High enough to raise fallen man toward heaven.

How deep is it? Deep enough to reach into those hidden places within us that we scarcely understand ourselves: old wounds, secret fears, remembered sins, disappointments, temptations, and sorrows that no one else sees.

And even after saying all this, Paul tells us that Christ's charity “surpasseth all knowledge.” We have still not reached its boundary. We never will.

This may be one of the most consoling truths in the Christian life. Your knowledge of God may sometimes be small. Your prayer may feel poor. Your understanding may be incomplete. You may even struggle to understand what God is doing in your life. Yet God's love for you is not limited by your ability to understand it. The roots can be growing beneath the soil even when nothing seems to be happening above ground.

Saint Paul ends by turning our eyes away from our limitations and toward God's abundance:

[He] “is able to accomplish all things, in a measure far beyond what we ask or understand” (Ephesians 3:20).

We ask for enough grace to endure today. God is preparing eternity.

We ask Him to repair one wound. He intends to make us saints.

We ask Him to solve one difficulty. He desires to fill us “unto all the fulness of God.”

The great invitation of this passage, then, is not to measure how much we love God, but to sink our roots more deeply into the immeasurable love with which He already loves us. When suffering comes, when prayer seems dry, when our plans collapse, and when we cannot understand what God is permitting, we can look again at the Cross and remember Saint Augustine's image.

The breadth.

The length.

The height.

The depth.

We will never reach the edges of the love of Christ.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, dwell within my heart and strengthen me by Thy Holy Spirit. Root me so deeply in charity that neither suffering, temptation, disappointment, nor fear can separate me from Thee. When I cannot understand Thy ways, teach me to trust Thy love. Let me discover in Thy Cross the breadth, length, height, and depth of a mercy greater than anything I can ask or understand. Amen.