It’s year B again in the Novus Ordo’s three years cycle of Gospel readings and therefore time for a Novus Ordo second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5 about the relationship of Christ and His Church and of mean and women.
Once every three years in the Novus Ordo readings, those who choose to fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation on the 2st Ordinary Sunday are in these USA read either Ephesians 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32. O the trauma.
Allow me to traumatize those of you who went to the Vetus Ordo last Sunday, instead of the Novus Ordo. Let’s see the troublesome reading using the suboptimal NAB which afflicts Novus Ordo goers weekly, I’ll indicate the part that the editors of the Word of God decided could be omitted:
Brothers and sisters:
[21] Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
[22] Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is head of his wife
just as Christ is head of the church,
he himself the savior of the body.
As the church is subordinate to Christ,
so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
[25] Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church
and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
that he might present to himself the church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the church,
because we are members of his body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
This is a great mystery,
but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.
or [redacted optional version]
Brothers and sisters:
[2a] Live in love, as Christ loved us.
[…]
[25] Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church…
etc.
I dismiss with contempt the craven dodgers who choose to read the shorter, bowdlerized version. The nerve.
This comes up only once every three years in the Novus Ordo lectionary. It is not read in the Vetus Ordo. The closest we get is Eph 5:15-21 (RSV):
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, 20 always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. 21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
The other day I posted something germane to the topic of wives being subordinate to their husbands in an explication of what going on in Paul’s thought about angels and women covering their heads. HERE Bringing up chapel veils for women always get’s things going. I had been sent links to an article about the increase in the the number of young women choosing to wear chapel veils. I was, frankly, entirely unaware that the Ephesians 5 reading was last Sunday in the Novus Ordo.
Anyway, I bring to your attention two contrasting pieces posted post “Ephesians Five Sunday”.
One of them is from the loopy Where Peter Is site, which one should mainly avoid along with the Fishwrap. As a friend put it about their posting, all the verbiage says that Paul was just a 1st century rube. We’ve got the enlightened skinny now. Here’s an emblematic line:
And what does the current Magisterium teach about Ephesians 5? It avoids the language of headship and centers the line about mutual submission as the heart of what God is revealing through St. Paul’s letter.
The “current Magisterium”… gotta love that.
On the other hand, at Crisis there is a piece which is somewhat more Catholic. Here’s an exemplary bit:
Who do you think knows how to construct a godly marriage: the middle-aged women who showed up for 11:30 Mass, or God Himself, speaking through His Word? Has God changed His mind and admitted that He only inspired Paul to write “wives be subordinate to your husbands” because He used to think women were property but now the feminists have reeducated Him?
It is worth reading.
Compare and contrast.
Or… ignore the first one as a waste of time and just read the second.
There is a fascinating article at the Diocese of Avila about the examination of the body of St. Teresa of Avila. It is in Spanish. 
