Homily Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Phil. 2:1-11): “Jesus Humbled Himself and Raised Me Up”

Philippians 2:5-11 is called the Christ Hymn.  It speaks of one of the primary Christian virtues, which is humility.  Jesus humbled himself being “born in the likeness of men.”  If we wanted to explain this further, we would say that God was born in the likeness of a human being. 

We might derive two messages from this.  The first is that the Incarnation (God becoming human) gives us a fundamental dignity.  The spiritual quest many would say is the journey towards fully understanding the fact that gives us a graced existence.

We find it hard to accept the fact that we are images of God.  We are aware of our shortcomings.  And there is that voice that tells us that we are corrupt.  When we let that voice take over our subconscious it causes us to give up on life.  We think that we are worthless.  We wallow in shame.  We might ask, “Why try? Why live?”  We cannot really spiritually advance until we listen to a new voice which says I am God’s beloved son or daughter.  I have divine DNA.

The second message that we can receive from this passage from Philippians is that it calls us to a new sense of humility. We have a danger as Christians which is that when we do good things, we can take the credit rather than to give the glory to God.

I see this as a priest.  I can become too obsessed with doing good works and I take credit when someone is touched in a positive way by the ministry, I am engaged in.

I experience this in preaching.  I can give a homily that I think is very good and have no one say a word. Then again, I can preach a sermon that I think is awful and receive far more compliments.  When this happens, I am reminded that the message I preach is not mine, but it is the Gospel of Jesus. It is God’s grace that touches the listener, not mine.

Jesus’ Incarnation lifts us up.  He gives us a dignity that we never can be reminded of too much.

Reflection Questions:

1. When I identify myself is my first thought that I am a child of God? What holds me back from claiming that identity?
   1. Does God work through me?  When I engage in noble actions, do I feel moved by the Spirit?