The Second Sunday of Lent, March 13, 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. 

St. Paul writes to the Gentile Christians of the Greek city of Philippi during his first imprisonment in Rome (Acts 27-28).  He wishes to convey to them the progress of his case, which was still up in the air, and also to reassure the Philippians, who were especially devoted to him, of his concern for them.  This letter is much more personal than the others of his which we have.  It bursts with energy and zeal for Christ and Paul declares that he is ready to die for Christ in order to be with him, such is his love for him.  Having seen the scars of his many sufferings and heard of them from his own lips and from those who had suffered with him, the Philippians were convinced of his willingness to give up his life for Jesus.  It is in this light that we should read, “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.”  Paul exhorts them to love the Lord with the passion with which he loved him, and to follow the laws which the Lord taught, just as he did.  Paul says this out of necessity, for the Gentile Christians of Philippi had no other models to follow, at a time when they were still shedding their old habits and manner of conduct, living in a pagan world.  We find ourselves in a similar position today, living in a world given up to the unrestrained pursuit of selfish pleasure, with fewer numbers of believing Christians around us.  We seem to have no great saints or leaders to guide us at the present time.  Indeed, we are unsettled by terrible scandal.  But unlike the Philippians, we have the complete writings of the Gospels and the Letters of the Apostles, we have two thousand years of saints who give us their example, and we have ready access to all the teachings of the Church as handed down through the centuries.  These, and the grace of the Sacraments, which the Philippians also had, make us strong.

“For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.”  Paul speaks of Christians who take their salvation for granted and do nothing in the way of practicing virtue.  They are not ready to die for Christ and his love is not in them.  “Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their shame.  Their minds are occupied with earthly things”  Convinced that they need do nothing more for their souls than to have them baptized, they avoid Holy Mass and the practice of the Faith and give themselves to indulgence.  Paul points out that this kind of behavior is self-destructive.  

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Rather than pursuing earthly goods with abandon, we prize heavenly goods and strive to attain them.  Our hearts are set on him who has granted us this heavenly citizenship which we exercise in the love of God and neighbor, and we know that he will come again to take us into our true homeland.  “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.”  Others may devote themselves to dolling themselves up and wearing expensive clothing, though one day their bodies will die and decay, but we adorn ourselves with good works so that our bodies will be remade to be glorious like our Lord’s, as we share in his Resurrection.  “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord.”  Transformed by grace and with our eyes on Jesus, the love of our lives, we persevere in our faith until he comes.

The Lord Jesus shows us a glimpse of his glorified Body in his Transfiguration, which is the subject of the Gospel reading for todays’s Mass.  he shows it to his Apostles and to us in order to confirm our faith in him and also to reveal to us what we shall become if we “stand firm” in that faith.  His glory will be ours, and “my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete” (John 15, 11).