The one who humbles himself will be exalted.
The last shall be first.
The least shall be the greatest.
These lines are sprinkled throughout the Gospels, particularly in St. Luke’s Gospel. In the very first chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, Mary lifts her voice to sing God’s praises in a canticle that we pray each day as the sun sets. Over and over again, she praises God for exalting the humble, for feeding the hungry, for lifting up the lowly. St. Luke reminds us of this song of praise as he tells the story of Jesus, illustrating how God turns things upside down. In one of the closing scenes of the Gospel, Jesus meets two disciples as they return to their home because they were expecting something else. As they walk to Emmaus, Jesus explains the Scriptures to them and reminds them that the Messiah had to suffer so that God could lift him up, exalting him above all of God’s creation.
The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.
St. Paul knows this truth very well and gives thanks that the community of Philippi has accepted this Gospel which proclaims that God lifts him up even though he is imprisoned for revealing that life is Christ. He states clearly that he will not be put to shame even though he now suffers humiliation at the hands of his jailors.
Even the responsorial psalm for today accentuates this lesson. The first verses of Psalm 42 tells us that it was written by the guild of the sons of Korah. They had experienced the lesson themselves as they were demoted from their role as leaders of Temple liturgy to being mere door keepers in the Temple. All of their psalms recall their glory days and lament their fall from grace and speak of the day when they will be vindicated.
I believe that it was St. Fautina Kowalska who wrote that if we wish to find true glory, we must tread the path of humiliation.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator