My Dear People, 

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, which is also known as Passion Sunday. This begins Holy Week, and today the Passion of the Lord is from the Gospel of St. Mark.  The Gospels of Luke, Matthew and Mark are rotated depending on the cycle, but on Good Friday the Gospel is always from St. John.  

             As we are reflecting on the passion of the Lord today, I want to emphasize the second reading which is from a letter of Paul to the Philippians chapter 2 verses 6–11. What St. Paul says about Jesus Christ the Apostle is not simply proposing Him as a model for us to follow. Quite possibly Paul is transcribing an earlier liturgical hymn and adding some touches of his own, while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He gives a very profound exposition of the nature of Christ using the most sublime truths of faith to show the way Christian virtues should be practiced.

This is one of the earliest New Testament texts to reveal the divinity of Christ. The Epistle was written around the year 62, or perhaps, as early as 55. We are reminded  that the hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 may well have been in use prior to that date. The passage clearly bears witness to the fact (in those very early years) that Jesus, born in Bethlehem, crucified, died, buried, and risen from the dead, was truly both God and man.

The hymn can be divided into three parts. The first (v.6 and the beginning of 7) refers to Christ’s humbling himself by becoming man. The second (the end of v 7 and v. 8) is the center of the whole passage and proclaims the extreme to which His humility led Him (as man He obediently accepted death on the cross). The third part (vv. 9-11) describes His exaltation in glory.  Throughout, St. Paul is conscious of Jesus’ divinity existing for all eternity. But He centers his attention on His death on the cross as the supreme example of humility. Christ’s humility lay not in His becoming a man like us and cloaking the glory of His divinity in His sacred humanity, it also led Him to a life of sacrifice and suffering which reached its climax on the cross. There, He was stripped of everything He had, just like a slave. 

However, now that He has fulfilled His mission, He is made manifest again, clothed in all the glory that befits His divine nature and which His human nature has merited. The man-God, Jesus Christ, makes the cross the climax of His earthly life. Through it He enters His glory as Lord and Messiah. The Crucifixion puts the whole universe on the way to Salvation.

Jesus Christ gives us a wonderful example of humility and obedience. “We should learn from Jesus’ attitude in these trials. During his life on earth he did not even want the glory that belonged to him. Though he had the right to be treated as God, he took the form of a servant, a slave.” (cf. Phil 2: 6-7) 

And so the Christian knows that all glory is due to God and that he must not use the sublimity and greatness of the Gospel to further his own interests or human ambitions. “We should learn from Jesus. His attitude in rejecting all human glory is in perfect balance with the greatness of his unique mission as beloved son of God who becomes incarnate to save humanity.” (Christ is Passing By, 62).

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente