Wednesday 7 September 2022

Today is Wednesday the 7th of September, in the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time


Tenebrae, directed by Nigel Short, sing the Magnificat from Rachmaninov’s Vespers, Mary’s song about the God who casts the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly, who fills the starving with good things and sends the rich away empty, a God who has no regard for riches, for power and status, but looks to the heart. As I enter into prayer today, can I put everything else aside for a moment, and humbly offer my heart to the Lord?

VELICHIT DUSHA MOYA GOSPODA, i vozvradovasya dukh moy o Bozhe Spase moyem.
Chestneyshuyu Kheruvim i slavneyshuyu bez sravneniya Serafim, bez istleniya Bogo Slova rozhdshuyu, sushchuyu Bogoroditsu Tya velichayem.
Yako prizre na smireniye raby Svoyeya. Se bo otnyne ublazhat mya vsi rodi.
Chestneyshuyu Kheruvim …
Yako sotvori mne velichie silny, i svyato imya Ego, i milost Ego v rody rodov boyashchymsya Ego.
Chestneyshuyu Kheruvim …
Nizlozhi silniya so prestol, i voznese smirennyya.
Alchushchiya ispolni blag, i bogatyashchiyasya otpusti tshchi.
Chestneyshuyu Kheruvim …
Vospriyat Izrailya otroka svoyego, pomyanuti milosti, yakozhe glagola ko otsem nashym,
Avraamu i semeni ego, dazhe do veka.
Chestneyshuyu Kheruvim …


MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
More honourable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, without defilement thou gavest birth to God the Word, true Theotokos, we magnify thee.
For he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
More honourable …
For he that is mighty hath done great things for me and holy is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
More honourable …
He has put down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away.
More honourable …
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he promised to our forefathers, to Abraham and his seed for ever.

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke

Luke 6:20-26

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

For many people these words of Jesus, the Beatitudes, represent the heart of Christianity. Jesus makes a number of promises to those who are poor, hungry, sad and despised. These promises are the Kingdom of God, satisfaction, joy and a great reward in heaven. What do I understand by these promises? What do I imagine them to offer? Can these things captivate me and attract me?

Now, by contrast, imagine for yourself the other sort of life that Jesus describes. Imagine for yourself a life that will be loaded with wealth, with material excess and with celebrity. Would this satisfy and reassure you about the value of your own life?

For a few moments mull over which of these rather opposite paths you feel inclined to.

Listening to the Beatitudes again you might want to focus less on what the words convey and more on the person who spoke them, Jesus Christ.

Now, in a way that is natural for you, ask God’s help to embody today the values of the Beatitudes in your own life.

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.