Friday 8 November 2024

Today is Friday the 8th of November in the 31st week of Ordinary Time.


Juliano Ravanello sings, Attende Domine: ‘Look down, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against thee.’

Attende Domine et miserere quia peccavimus tibi
Ad te Rex summe
Omnium redemptor
Oculos nostros
Sublevamus flentes
Exaudi Christe
Supplicantum preces
Attende Domine et miserere quia peccavimus tibi
Dextera Patris
Lapis angularis
Via salutis
Ianua caelestis
Ablue nostri
Maculas delicti
Attende Domine et miserere quia peccavimus tibi
Rogamus Deus
Tuam majestatem
Auribus sacris
Gemitus exaudi
Crimina nostra
Placidus indulge
Attende Domine et miserere quia peccavimus tibi
Tibi fatemur
Crimina admissa
Contrito corde
Pandimus occulta
Tua Redemptor
Pietas ignoscat
Attende Domine et miserere quia peccavimus tibi
Innocens captus
Nec repugnans ductus
Testibus falsis
Pro impiis damnatus
Quos redemisti
Tu conserva Christe
Attende Domine et miserere quia peccavimus tibi


Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against Thee.
Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against Thee.
To Thee, highest King,
Redeemer of all,
do we lift up our eyes
in weeping:
Hear, O Christ, the prayers
of your servants.
Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against Thee.
Right hand of the Father,
corner-stone,
way of salvation,
gate of heaven,
wash away our
stains of sin.
Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against Thee.
We beseech Thee, God,
in Thy great majesty:
Hear our groans
with Thy holy ears:
calmly forgive
our crimes.
Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against Thee.
To Thee we confess
our sins admitted
with a contrite heart
We reveal the things hidden:
By Thy kindness, O Redeemer,
overlook them.
Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against Thee.
The Innocent, seized,
not refusing to be led;
condemned by false witnesses
because of impious men
O Christ, keep safe those
whom Thou hast redeemed.
Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against Thee.




Today’s reading is from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 3:17-4:1


Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

It's all too easy to develop blind spots. We can absorb worldly values unthinkingly and fail to be true to Christ. The Lord is full of understanding and forgiveness. We know that.

A brave thing to say to God is: show me my blind spots! Show me where I do not see things as you see them, Lord. Dare you make that prayer?

When we come to God with a prayer like that, God is understanding, gentle, and full of kindness. We are not loved because we’re good at this! Spend a moment resting in this certainty: with all your blind spots and imperfections, you are utterly loved . . .

Jesus turns everything upside down. Worldly glory becomes shameful; his shameful death becomes glory, and so on. As you listen again to this passage, notice all the mentions of the word ‘glory’.

In the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, he offers a petition to be said at the beginning of each hour of prayer: “Ask God for the grace that all your intentions and actions be purely for the service and glory of God.” What an aspiration. Are you brave enough to ask for that grace? That all your intentions and actions be purely for the service and glory of God . . .

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.