The 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This weekend is Saturday the 30 and Sunday 31 January, beginning the 4th week of Ordinary Time.

Audrey Assad, with the Porter’s Gate, sings ‘Nothing to Fear’.

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

1 Corinthians 7:32-35

I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

In today’s reading, Paul expresses his desire for followers of Christ to be free from anxiety. His desire is that all people, whatever their marital state, may experience unhindered devotion to the Lord. Hold in your mind the relationships and interests in your life at the moment… do you feel that any of these create division between you and the Lord?

What might a life lived in ‘unhindered devotion’ to the Lord look like for you?

Spend some time imagining this with God now.

Is there something creating a particular anxiety for you at the moment? Bring this to the Lord now…

Listen to the reading again, noticing what particularly stirs you…

Can you identify the moments in your daily life where the ‘good order’ that Paul mentions, enables you to show your devotion to God? Offer these times to God in gratitude, perhaps this moment is one of these. Enjoy being with God, right now as you pray. 

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.