23rd Week in Ordinary Time : Wednesday 10th September 2025

The new life in Christ behests our commitment to pave a new way of relating to one another which affects our care of creation. St Paul summons the Colossians to put on a new self – which is life in Christ. Urging them to set their hearts on things above, not earthly desires, he calls for the death of old relational patterns-anger, slander, greed, impurity. In their place, he introduces a new identity in Christ, where distinctions like race, status, and background no longer divide and rule. Since “Christ is all, and in all,” thus communal relationships are redefined by unity, compassion, and holiness, not by social or cultural boundaries.

St Luke presents Jesus flipping worldly values upside down: the poor, the hungry, and the rejected are blessed, while the rich, the satisfied, and the praised are forewarned. This challenges how people relate to one another-status and success are no longer the measure of worth. Jesus invites a radical empathy and solidarity with the marginalized, reshaping relationships around humility and dependence on God. The discarded can no longer be seen as nuisance and useless but as persons capable of revealing the wonders of God in all creation that all would ponder and learn.

Both passages today call for a reorientation of relationships-from self-centred, status-driven interactions to ones shaped by Christ-centred humility, equality, and love. They challenge us to see others not through worldly lenses, but through the eyes of grace and Christ’s resurrection.

PRAYER Lord Jesus, You draw us into true relationship, may we treat others graciously.