Today, Sunday, September 27, has been set aside as a Day of Prayer for the Refugees and Migrants of the World by our Holy Father Pope Francis. So while we will use the readings assigned for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we will use the appropriate prayers from the Masses for Various Needs and Occasions.
Today’s reading from the Letter to the Philippians should be familiar to all of us because it is used rather repeatedly not only in the Lectionary for Sunday and Daily Mass, particularly on Passion or Palm Sunday, but also in the Liturgy of the Hours. In describing to the community at Philippi what would make his joy complete, he lists a series of qualities that would characterize a person who lives “in Christ.” This latter phrase appears 165 times in the letters of St. Paul. Living in Christ is obviously one of the chief values of St. Paul’s preaching and lifestyle. It describes the close, life-giving and life impacting union between Jesus and believers who are united in a symbiotic relationship. Such an intimate union should have concrete results. This is exactly what St. Paul asks of the Philippians. To be sure, this is exactly what Pope Francis has in mind when he asks the Universal Church to set aside this day to remember and consider the fate of the hundreds of thousands who have been forced to seek asylum away from their homes because of warfare or persecution.
Above all else, in this passage from the Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul emphasizes the importance of “being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.” He follows that statement with concrete instructions for behavior; namely, consider the needs of others as more important than your own. This is God’s voice calling us to consider the plight of those are forced to flee from their homes as was the Holy Family forced to flee the murderous threats of Herod.
This plea is followed by Christianity’s most exalted hymn of praise of Christ. St. Paul offers this magnificent vision of Christ’s self-emptying as a profound statement of faith and as a stirring incentive for the Christian community of Philippi.
This hymn has two parts. In the first part, Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, is the subject of the action; in the second, God who is Father of us all is the subject. The first part outlines a threefold progression which speaks of how Jesus completely relinquished his divinity so that he could become a true human being. First he humbled himself and became obedient, taking on the form of a slave. Next, he accepted death. Finally, he accepted not just any death, but the death of a criminal. The second part of the hymn also outlines a threefold progression which details God’s response to Jesus’ humility. God’s exaltation of Christ is as glorious as his humiliation was debasing. While Christ was the subject of his self-emptying, his super-exaltation is attributed directly to God. In exalting Jesus, God accords his human name a dignity that raises it about every other name. It now elicits the reverence due to One who is called the “Lord.” Every knee shall do him homage and every tongue shall proclaim his sovereignty. The entire created universe is brought under his lordship.
In holding up this paradigm for the community of Philippi, it is obvious that St. Paul is providing a reason for the community of Philippi to emulate the obedience that was the foundation of Jesus’ life and mission. For a community of Romans who regarded themselves as free, the notion of slavery was considered an utter debasement of their status in the world. However, St. Paul demonstrates that humility and obedience to the will of God are integral to life in Christ and in Christian community. Because St. Paul’s letters were all written before the composition of the Gospels, the frequent statements about being first and last or greatest and least uttered by Jesus throughout his ministry are the foundation of the Gospel.
Throughout his writings, St. Paul reminds us that Jesus’ humility are the wisdom and strength of God. These two qualities were the touchstones of Greek, Roman and Jewish culture. The Greek philosophers and the mighty Roman Empire valued wisdom and strength ahead of all other human qualities. The children of Israel put their faith in the Creator God who was wiser and stronger than all the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. So Jesus’ death on the cross would have looked like the antithesis of these two foundational qualities of human culture. St. Paul ably argues that the cross of Jesus is not a symbol of defeat but the path to an exalted place in the universe.
Two thousand years later, we are still trying to live “in Christ.” The union which St. Paul espouses is both a challenge and an aspiration for all Christians, for all the baptized. Putting on the mindset of Jesus, humbly regarding others as more important than ourselves, is the path to glory and exaltation.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator