Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
November 6, 2024
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110624.cfm
Do everything without grumbling or questioning,
that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life,
so that my boast for the day of Christ may be
that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
But, even if I am poured out as a libation
upon the sacrificial service of your faith,
I rejoice and share my joy with all of you.
In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.
Philippians 2:15-18
Being a Christian is not easy. It was not easy for the Philippians, and it’s not easy for us. We still live in the midst of a “crooked and perverse generation.” And its crooked perversity is not always easy to discern as the culture becomes more clever in deceitful jargon and technological manipulation.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to have a clear vision that sees into the heart of life in God. Despite challenges, Paul rejoices in this insightful faith of the Philippians and invites them to rejoice as well. Let’s consider our own faith journey and those aspects of it that cause us to rejoice:
- God’s faithfulness and our perseverance
- what we have given for love, and what we have received in return
- the freedom faith has granted us, and the freedom we have fostered in others
- the contentment of a long fidelity, and the assured hope of a promised eternity
Poetry: Mindful by Mary Oliver
Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or lesskills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needlein the haystack
of light.
Music: Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Our Desiring – arranged by D. Qualey
Lavish Mercy 