Today, we begin reading from the Letter to the Philippians as the first reading for our daily Eucharist. As it happens this is a second visit to that letter as we also read it as the second reading in our Sunday Eucharist earlier this year.
The only way to hear or read the Scriptures for our own profit or growth is to accept the message as pertaining to us. While St. Paul is specifically addressing a community of believers in Philippi, it will be helpful for us as well if we listen to the words as if they were being addressed to us. Otherwise it simply becomes a matter of an historical or cultural study. So when St. Paul tells the Philippians that he is grateful to the Philippians because they are partners with him in preaching the Gospel, it is important to hear him say these words to us. We are not his contemporaries, but we are partners with him and with every one of the apostles and disciples of Jesus down through history. Though we were not present when Jesus commissioned the disciples to go into the world telling people about forgiveness, that commission is ours because of our baptism.
The same can be said about St. Paul’s love for the Philippians. As he assures them that he is praying that their love may increase, he assures us as well that he is interceding for us as we continue to make Jesus and the Gospel known throughout the world.
The same approach will help us understand the Gospel passage for today. In the Gospel today, we hear once again that Jesus is sharing a meal. Though his dinner partners are the Pharisees in this passage, Jesus is still eating with sinners (although they might disagree on that point). However, you and I know that because we are all sinners, any meal that Jesus shares with us, including this Eucharist, is another occasion when Jesus chooses to eat with sinners.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator