(Listen to this homily here).
We heard yesterday and today and will
continue to hear over the next couple of days the letter to the Philippians. This letter can easily be read in one
sitting—it would take only ten or fifteen minutes to read.
In
it Paul utters extreme joy for the Lord in thanksgiving for all the gifts God
has given us. Because of this, the
Philippians ought to live in such joy and find unity in Christ.
We
heard one of Paul’s most famous passages from his writings in this first
reading. We frequently pray this
in the breviary, especially on Saturday evenings as we begin to celebrate the
Lord’s Day. Paul writes: “[Jesus] though he was in the form of God, did
not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking
the form of a slave…he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even
death on a cross.”
In
our theological tradition we describe this self-emptying of Christ with a Greek
word called kenosis (a good cocktail
word!). This word describes a full
emptying of oneself and a gift of self to God and others.
This
is what we are called to do. This
section begins with Paul encouraging the Philippians: “Brothers and sisters: Have among yourselves the same
attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus…” Just as Jesus emptied himself to his people and to his
Father, we are to do this as well, to have this self-emptying kenosis ourselves.
Paul
didn’t just write about such an outpouring of self, he lived it. He wrote
the letter to the Philippians while he was in prison. What really inspires me is that he wrote with such joy. This wasn’t written by a man on a
vacation, a man by a swimming pool or a man on a cruise. This was written by a man in prison,
who recognized that because of Christ’s self sacrifice and kenosis, we can have nothing but joy in our hearts. We must respond with our own
self-emptying and with our own gift of ourselves to God and His people.
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