Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, September 27, 2026

At a recent school mass, the Gospel reading was Luke’s version of the Beatitudes – the series of statements from Jesus that begin with the words, “Blessed are…” What follows are a list of ideal behaviors that focus on others rather than ourselves. Jesus never says, “blessed are the selfish, the self-important, the self-righteous, or the self-centered.” In the beatitudes, He blesses those who make the needs of others their most important priority.

During my homily, I spoke to the students about having “Be Attitudes.” That is, attitudes that help us to be the person that Jesus wants us to be. Simply put, a “Be Attitude” is an attitude that is outwardly focused.

Nowadays, “me-centerdness” seems to be a common default mode of operation. It’s one thing to know that the Gospel urges us to hold others in higher esteem than ourselves. It’s quite another to put that into practice. This weekend, Paul explains a foundational “Be Attitude” when he instructs the Philippians to “humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” It is a matter of considering every single human being as superior to us, so that we can reflect the attitude of Christ who came to serve ALL. The words “regard others as more important” is a statement about an ATTITUDE. We freely choose to look at others as superior to us so that we can serve them with joy. We consider each person as worthy of our service, so that we can live what Scripture says, “each looking out not for his own interests, but everyone for those of others.”

Fr. Pedro Arrupe, former Superior General of the Jesuits, once challenged a group of high school students to be “men for others.” The hard part is asking for God’s grace to let go of ourselves completely, to “empty” ourselves for others. Living for others is the height of humility and of love. It is, Paul says, the same attitude Christians are to have. The root of humility is humus (dirt or earth). We are all children of earth. Jesus chose to become a humble child of the earth, to show that we are all equal, deserving of mutual respect and care. That is the way He pioneered for us to follow. That is how we can be a ray of light in our dark world.

Fr. Mike