Friday in the 31st Week of Ordinary Time, November 4, 2022

Philippians 3, 17—4, 1

Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the Cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their shame.  Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.

In this passage of his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul says to these Gentile Christians, “Follow me!” on the path of faith and virtue.  It is a bold cry, but it is one he has made before, to the members of the Christians at Corinth: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11, 1).  Paul, as well as the other Apostles, could justify their position as living models of the Lord Jesus through the sufferings they endured for him in preaching his authentic Gospel.  Indeed, Paul claims very directly, “I near the wounds of Christ on my body” (Galatians 6, 17) — a statement which has led some to think that he bore the stigmata.  Paul’s striking words tell us much about his relationship with the Philippians and the esteem in which they held him.  They are a call to us to pray to him that we might imitate him as well.  “Observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us.”  Paul does not claim to be the only model, however.  There are others among his assistants and helpers, both men and women, who give good and clear example of Christian faith and virtue.

“For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the Cross of Christ.”  Just as Paul, Barnabas, and the others with him conducted themselves as befitted the disciples of the Lord, so “many” act in a way contrary to the Lord Jesus.  A pervasive enemy of the early Church were the Jewish Christians who insisted on the Gentiles becoming Jews in order to become Christians, but Paul does not describe these “enemies” further.  He appealed to the Philippians “even in tears” bot to follow them, so they must have posed a threat to the new Christians at Philippi.  Perhaps the insidious teachings of the Gnostics had found their way into this city, perched on the northeast coast of Greece.  The Gnostics taught, among other things, that physical matter and everything connected with it was evil.  They taught that the human body could not be rightly controlled by the soul, which was held captive by it, and this led to immoral living.  The Gnostics attempted to co-opt the teachings of the Lord Jesus and thus in some places the Church struggled to keep her members from falling into their trap.  To be noted is that Paul calls them specifically the enemies of the Cross of Christ — that by his taking on the vileness (as the Gnostics saw it) of human nature Christ saved the whole human person, body and soul.

“Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things.”  While certain Gnostics followed the teachings of their sect in such a way that they rejected institutions like marriage and most kinds of food and drink and so lived abstemiously, others saw the evil of their flesh as a reason to indulge it in every way.  They would, then, eat greedily and indulge themselves in gross animal behavior and feel no shame afterwards for it.

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  At least some of the Gnostic sects brought initiates into their groups through a ceremony, even resembling baptism.  This made people members or “citizens” (a status conferred by rulers of a state in ancient times which granted certain rights and responsibilities).  Paul contrasts the citizenship of the Gnostics in this world to that of the Christians in heaven.  As such, Christians abide in this world as foreigners awaiting their Savior who will lead them into heaven: “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.”  He will, then, transform us so that we may enter heaven, while the Gnostics are left to the land of their citizenship below.  The Lord Jesus will “bring all things into subjection to himself”.  That is, at the end of the world when the Lord comes for judgment and the wicked and those who refused to believe in him would be cast into hell, and the just would be brought by him into his Kingdom of eternal peace.

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.”  Paul reassures the faithful at Philippi that he wants to continue living for their sake and to return to them.  He calls them his “joy and crown”: their faith gives him joy now, and his work among them will adorn him like a crown in heaven.  We read of these crowns in Revelation 4, 10-11: ‘The four and twenty elders fell down before him who sits on the throne and adored him who lives for ever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you have created all things: and for your will they were and have been created.”  The elders signify the Church in heaven, crowned by God for their hard work and perseverance, and yet recognizing Friday in the 31st Week of Ordinary Time, November 4, 2022

Philippians 3, 17—4, 1

Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the Cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their shame.  Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.

In this passage of his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul says to these Gentile Christians, “Follow me!” on the path of faith and virtue.  It is a bold cry, but it is one he has made before, to the members of the Christians at Corinth: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11, 1).  Paul, as well as the other Apostles, could justify their position as living models of the Lord Jesus through the sufferings they endured for him in preaching his authentic Gospel.  Indeed, Paul claims very directly, “I near the wounds of Christ on my body” (Galatians 6, 17) — a statement which has led some to think that he bore the stigmata.  Paul’s striking words tell us much about his relationship with the Philippians and the esteem in which they held him.  They are a call to us to pray to him that we might imitate him as well.  

“Observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us.”  Paul does not claim to be the only model, however.  There are others among his assistants and helpers, both men and women, who give good and clear example of Christian faith and virtue.

“For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the Cross of Christ.”  Just as Paul, Barnabas, and the others with him conducted themselves as befitted the disciples of the Lord, so “many” act in a way contrary to the Lord Jesus.  A pervasive enemy of the early Church were the Jewish Christians who insisted on the Gentiles becoming Jews in order to become Christians, but Paul does not describe these “enemies” further.  He appealed to the Philippians “even in tears” bot to follow them, so they must have posed a threat to the new Christians at Philippi.  Perhaps the insidious teachings of the Gnostics had found their way into this city, perched on the northeast coast of Greece.  The Gnostics taught, among other things, that physical matter and everything connected with it was evil.  They taught that the human body could not be rightly controlled by the soul, which was held captive by it, and this led to immoral living.  The Gnostics attempted to co-opt the teachings of the Lord Jesus and thus in some places the Church struggled to keep her members from falling into their trap.  To be noted is that Paul calls them specifically the enemies of the Cross of Christ — that by his taking on the vileness (as the Gnostics saw it) of human nature Christ saved the whole human person, body and soul.

“Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things.”  While certain Gnostics followed the teachings of their sect in such a way that they rejected institutions like marriage and most kinds of food and drink and so lived abstemiously, others saw the evil of their flesh as a reason to indulge it in every way.  They would, then, eat greedily and indulge themselves in gross animal behavior and feel no shame afterwards for it.

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  At least some of the Gnostic sects brought initiates into their groups through a ceremony, even resembling baptism.  This made people members or “citizens” (a status conferred by rulers of a state in ancient times which granted certain rights and responsibilities).  Paul contrasts the citizenship of the Gnostics in this world to that of the Christians in heaven.  As such, Christians abide in this world as foreigners awaiting their Savior who will lead them into heaven: “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.”  He will, then, transform us so that we may enter heaven, while the Gnostics are left to the land of their citizenship below.  The Lord Jesus will “bring all things into subjection to himself”.  That is, at the end of the world when the Lord comes for judgment and the wicked and those who refused to believe in him would be cast into hell, and the just would be brought by him into his Kingdom of eternal peace.

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.”  Paul reassures the faithful at Philippi that he wants to continue living for their sake and to return to them.  He calls them his “joy and crown”: their faith gives him joy now, and his work among them will adorn him like a crown in heaven.  We read of these crowns in Revelation 4, 10-11: ‘The four and twenty elders fell down before him who sits on the throne and adored him who lives for ever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you have created all things: and for your will they were and have been created.”  The “elders” signify the Church in heaven, crowned by God for their hard work and perseverance, and yet recognizing that any success on earth and progress in sanctity is all due to God’s power and majesty.

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass consists of a parable that seems to send the wrong message, but in fact it is about forgiveness.  The Lord speaks of the children of this world acting with greater prudence with their own kind than the children of light do with their own kind.  The children of this world forgive each other’s debts in order to receive something tangible in return, but the children of light would gain so much more by forgiving the “debts” owed to us by others, especially by those who also are children of the light.  We can gain their prayers, for one thing, so that we may dwell in eternal dwelling places in heaven.

We ought to try to imagine being honored after our lives on earth by the One to whom all honor is due, and who will seat us at his table at proceed to wait on us (cf. Luke 12, 37) as we gaze on him in wonder.