Sunday 1 October 2023

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Today is Sunday 1 October, beginning the 26th week of Ordinary time.

Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, sing Dulce Jesus mio. “My sweet Jesus, look with mercy on my lost soul.” As I sit here, or stand here now, trying to pray, what kind of shape is my soul in? Content and at peace? Lost and wandering? On the edge? And what about the other souls around me? Are there ‘lost souls’ here beside me who also need the love of God in their lives?

Yya1 Jesuchrixhto,

apuk1rui

ityaku niyausus1p1

ninait1 sobi.

Dulce Jesús mío,

mirad con piedad

mi alma perdida

por culpa mortal.

Today’s reading is from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 2:1-11

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

At the heart of this passage is an invitation to model yourself on Christ, taking on his way of seeing and living in the world. What is your first reaction to hearing this?

Don’t look to your own interests, but to the interests of others, the Philippians are told. What does that, or might that, mean in the circumstances of your own life?

As you hear the passage read again, notice the portrait of Jesus that it builds up. How would you describe to others the image of Jesus that it paints?

Speak to that Jesus, the one described here, of ways in which you might model yourself more fully on him.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.