Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Philippians 3:3-8; Luke 15:1-10)
In today’s first reading St. Paul oddly writes, “We are the
circumcision”. He means that those who
put their faith in Christ have achieved the blessing promised to Abraham’s
descendants whom God ordered circumcised.
Circumcision was a distinguishing mark on Jews that reminded
them of their need to be sexually moderate.
It also served as a promise of blessing with God’s protection. Paul now tells the Philippians that they have
received a far greater promise in God’s Son.
Christ will give them victory over death as the final and
all-encompassing blessing.
The passage assures us of the same blessing that we have
received in Jesus Christ. We might draw
pleasure and even some happiness from worldly goods and relationships. But our true and final happiness comes
through knowing, like Paul, “Jesus Christ (our) Lord.”
