Have this mind among yourselves

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matt 1:1

Reflection: We all have an ancestry and a past. Some of us can boast of a wonderful past and glorious ancestry and yet there are many who may even regret their ancestry and background. There are some who even grumble and are critical of their parents and their lineage.

We see in the Gospel of today Jesus’ ancestry, some a wonderful lot and some with a tainted background and history. What could be as noble in comparison to his background as God?

From the action of Jesus we learn that it not the background that counts before God but what we are in Christ and what we become with our cooperation with his grace.  And the greatest virtue of Christ and likewise with his mother was humility as we see from the following passage, which also invites us to imitate him:     

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Phil 2:3-8 RSV

“Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”  Luke 1:48 Douay-Rheims

Prayer: Lord, make me humble and meek of heart in your holy presence.

Happy feast to all!

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