Tuesday of the Thirty first Week in Ordinary Time

Tuesday of the Thirty first Week in Ordinary Time

Readings for Tuesday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Phil 2:5-11

Responsorial Psalm Ps 22:26b-27, 28-30ab, 30e, 31-32
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.

Gospel Lk 14:15-24

Reflection:

A piece of Irony for you; I was planning on reflecting on the Gospel as it relates to our moral obligation to participate in the democratic process today when I hit the Kenotic Hymn from Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Brothers and sisters:
Have among yourselves the same attitude
that is also yours in Christ Jesus,

Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and, found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

It turns out that this is my most favorite piece of scripture in the entire bible. It captures the whole image of what we need to strive for in our daily lives.

Many scripture scholars agree that this wonderful little injunction was, at the time of Paul’s ministry a part of the worship service in the local churches. As such it would have served as a regular reminder that if Christ, who is God and Son of God, could empty himself of self-importance and become man; how could we who are God’s creations presume self importance or presume that we are somehow better than our fellow persons?

The challenge here is that while we must be humble in our demeanor, we must also be confident in Christ. While we must accept humility as the mantle that Jesus gives us, we must not confuse humility with meekness. While in the eyes of God we are his beloved children, in the eyes of the world we must be seen as a force for good; for love and compassion; for justice for all of the down trodden.

As I said in the opening line, this is a bit ironic. I could have gone on for quite a while about the Kenotic Hymn and how we should go about following its injunction. However, I need to go vote and encourage you to do the same.

Pax