This post contains Father Callan’s summary of Philippians 2:1-11 followed by his notes on those verses. Text in red, if any, represents my additions.
AN EXHORTATION TO UNITY AND HUMILITY
A Summary of Philippians 2:1-11~ In verse 27 of the preceding Chapter St. Paul exhorted the Philippians to unity of thought and action in their efforts for the spread of the Gospel, and here (Phil 2:1-4) he goes back to that thought and appeals to his readers in still more earnest tones that they should make full his joy by the practice and cultivation of complete unity and harmony among them. This relationship of concord among brethren, he goes on to say, must be grounded on humility, on lowliness of mind. And since in the pagan world humility was despised as a sign of degradation, as an abject and groveling state suited only to the condition of slaves, he cites (Phil 2:5-11) the supreme example of Christ who, though He was the Son of the eternal God Himself, took on Himself for our salces the form of a lowly servant, even that of an outcast dying the most ignominious of deaths; and who in return for His extreme self-humiliation merited an exaltation above all other names, whether in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, that, namely, of supreme Lordship of the world.
1. If there be therefore any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of
charity, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels of commiseration,
2. Fulfill ye my joy, that you be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment.
It seems St. Paul must have learned that there were at Philippi some discordant elements among the Christians, arising from ambition, pride, vainglory, self- seeking, and the like; and hence he appeals to them by the deepest spiritual sentiments and relationships between him and them to complete his happiness and joy by exhibiting towards one another a spirit of concord and mutual charity. He piles up his reasons of appeal in rhetorical fashion, introducing each member by “if,” not as though he doubted their state of mind and heart, but only to strengthen his exhortation. He means to say: “If there be any comfort in the fact that you are Christians, if there be any consolation which charity can inspire, if there be any reality in the common spiritual benefits and blessings we enjoy in the Holy Ghost, if there be in you any tender feelings of mercy and compassion; then complete the joy I have in you by thinking alike, by exercising mutual charity towards one another, by having one soul and mind in all you do.” Of the phrases in verse 2 inculcating unity, Vaughan says St. Paul has multiplied them in a “tautology of earnestness.”
3. Let nothing be done through contention, neither by vain glory: but in humility, let each esteem others better than himself;
Here the Apostle indicates the obstacles to unity and concord of spirit, namely, “contention,” i.e., a spirit of partisanship or faction, and “vain glory,” i.e., the inordinate seeking of one’s own interests and self-praise. Instead of being moved by such unworthy impulses in their dealings with their neighbor, the Apostle urges that they be guided by the Christian virtue of “humility,” which will teach them to see the good that it in everybody else while making them conscious of their own defects, and will thus lead each one of them to “esteem others better than himself.” There is no one so good as not to have some defects, and no one so bad as to be devoid of all good qualities; and hence if we keep in mind our own faults, on the one hand, and the good traits of our neighbor, on the other hand, it is easy to esteem others better than ourselves (St. Thomas, h. l.).
4. Each one not considering the things that are his own, but also those that are other men’s.
The Apostle gives another means of exercising fraternal charity, and thus of promoting unity, namely, sympathy and a kindly interest in the affairs of others.
The Vulgate sed ea, quæ, etc., should read, sed et ea, quæ, etc., to agree with the Greek; which shows that, while looking after our own affairs with due attention, we should also take a helpful interest in things that concern others.
5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
In verses 5-1 1 St. Paul will illustrate and enforce the doctrine he has been inculcating by the supreme example of the Saviour in His voluntary incarnation, humiliation, and exaltation. Though issuing from a practical exhortation, the passage is profound in its doctrinal teaching and unsurpassed in its theological importance. In these few verses we have summed up the whole history of Christ—His nature and eternity as God, His incarnation with its humiliating consequences, and His glorious triumph and exaltation. The fact that St. Paul, in order to enforce some of the simplest moral duties, makes an appeal to such profound mysteries shows, on the one hand, the natural and intimate connection between Christian theological teaching and practical Christian life; and, on the other hand, how thorough and profound must have been the instruction given the early Christians by the Apostles and how these great doctrines of the divinity, incarnation, etc., of Christ formed a part of that instruction, and were, at the writing of this letter, apparently so well understood as to need only to be stated in their broad outlines to be grasped in their meaning and application.
Let this mind, etc. The enim of the Vulgate at the beginning of this verse is not represented in the best Greek. The Apostle wishes to say that, if his readers will have the same attitude of mind and soul which our Lord had at the time of His incarnation, all that he has requested in the verses just preceding will be easily and readily complied with.
In Christ Jesus, i.e., in the Divine Person who was God from eternity, who was eternally predestined by the Eternal Father as the Christ to be, and who became incarnate in time to save mankind from their sins.
6. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
to God.
Jesus Christ is here described in His eternal, pre-existent life as God.
Who refers to the single Personality, who is one and the same both in His pre-existence and in His earthly life.
Being (υπαρχων) . The Greek participle emphasizes the preexistence of Christ.
In the form of God, i.e., having the nature, essence, inward being of God; for such is the meaning of “form” (μορφη) here. Thus, before His incarnation Christ, or the Divine Person who became the Christ, pre-existed in the Divine Nature, as the eternal Son of the eternal Father.
Thought. This is a human way of expressing the Son’s attitude regarding the surrender of His position of equality with God in order to become man; not that He actually gave up anything that belonged to Him as God, but that His Divine Person in the incarnation took upon Himself the lowly form of human nature.
Robbery. The Greek word for “robbery” (αρπαγμον) occurs only here in the Greek Bible, and may mean (a) the act of robbing or seizing by force; or (b) the matter of robbery, or thing to be seized. The latter is the meaning here, and it conveys the idea of holding to a thing with a tenacity and jealousy that would make one unwilling to surrender it. There is no question here of unlawful possession, but only of anxiously clinging to what rightfully belongs to one. The sense of the whole phrase is that the eternal Son, at the prospect of His becoming man, did not so cling to His dignity and equality with God the Father in His divine nature as to be unwilling to become incarnate, thus assuming an inferior state as man.
Fr. Rickaby says the phrase “equal to God,” or “on equality with God,” does not regard the relation of the Son to the Father, but the relation of the Word to the nature which He chose as man; and he explains ουχ αρπαγμον (translated above as “not robbery) as (He) “made no hurry.” In his view the passage means that our Lord did not at once insist on appearing as man in His glorified human nature, but delayed it till after His Resurrection (Further Notes on St. Paul, h. l.).
Having spoken of the divine nature and dignity of the Son, the Apostle will speak in the two following verses of His humiliation in His earthly life.
7. But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man,
But emptied himself, by becoming man, by taking for a time an external human form which veiled, as it were, the Divinity that He possessed as God, and deprived Him of the external prerogative of glory to which as God He always retained His right. On this phrase, “he emptied himself,” St. Thomas says: “Hoc est intelligendum secundum assumptionem eius quod non habuit; sicut enim descendit de coelo, non quod desineret esse in coelo, sed quia incepit novo modo esse in terra, sic etiam se exinanivit, non deponendo divinam naturam, sed assumendo naturam humanam.” How the Son “emptied himself” (kenosis), the Apostle describes in the three phrases that follow.
(a) by “taking the form of a servant,” literally, “of a slave,” i.e., taking the nature of man. With regard to God all creatures are servants or slaves, even the angels. The word “form” here is the same as in verse 6 above, and hence means nature, essence, etc.;
(b) by “being made in the likeness of men,” i.e., appearing like other men, since He had the same nature as other men. The Divine Word, without ceasing to be God, assumed human nature, uniting the natures of God and of man in the one Divine Person, and appeared externally just like other men;
(c) by “being in habit found as a man,” i.e., being recognized as a man in His outward form and manner of acting by all His compatriots and associates (e.g., by eating, drinking, etc., like other men). In the preceding verse the Apostle affirmed the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and here he affirms the true humanity of the same Divine Person, showing that Christ was both true God and true man. Cf. Sales, h. l.
8. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.
Having described the way in which the Divine Word emptied Himself, the Apostle will now show the extreme humility and self-abasement to which He subjected Himself in the human nature which He assumed: He became “obedient” to the will of His heavenly Father “unto death,” and that, not an ordinary death, but one of shame and horror, namely, “the death of the cross.” The expression “unto death” expresses the degree of His obedience. St.
Paul wishes his readers to learn from this example of full and supreme self- abnegation on the part of their Master the humility, charity, and self-denial that will bring them peace and concord.
9. For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names
In verses 9-1 1 we have a description of the exaltation of our Lord, corresponding to His kenosis. We have already seen the extreme degree to which He emptied and humiliated Himself in obedience to the will of His eternal Father, and now we shall see what recompense He received.
For which cause, etc., i.e., as a reward for our Lord’s extreme and voluntary abasement He was exalted by the Eternal Father to a dignity beyond any that exists or can exist below the Divinity Itself. That our Lord merited this supreme exaltation. He Himself declared on the day of His resurrection: “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). His own great saying was fulfilled in His case: “He that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matt 23:12; Luke 14:11, 18:14).
Hath exalted him, above all other creatures, placing Him in the highest position of honor and authority next to the Godhead (cf. Eph 1:21 ff.; Col 3:1; Heb 1:13; Rom 8:34, 14:19; etc.).
Name stands here for power, dignity, majesty; and therefore a name “above all names” means a dignity and a majesty greater than anything that is possible below the Divinity Itself. By “name” here the Apostle does not refer to our Lord’s proper name, Jesus, which was given Him long before His exaltation and was recognized by men, and which was common to many other men (Estius).
10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth,
The purpose of the exaltation of Jesus is now given.
That in the name of Jesus, etc., i.e., so great a dignity and honor was bestowed on our Lord in order that all creatures might bow before His revealed majesty and adore Him as Lord of the world and Saviour of mankind.
Every knee should bow is a phrase signifying supreme adoration (cf. Isa 14:24; Rom 14:11; Eph 3:14). The human nature of Christ, as being hypostatically united to the Word, deserves the same adoration as the Divinity of the Word Itself.
Of those that are in heaven, etc., i.e., of angels in heaven, of men on earth, and of those who are in their graves (Theodoret), and even of the demons (St. Chrysostom). Most likely all created things are in view here. See Rev 5:12 ff., James 2:19, for references to all creatures, including the demons. The phrase “under the earth” means the underworld, the realm of the dead, of discarnate spirits. The pious custom of bowing the head at the mention of the name Jesus has at least indirect sanction from this verse.
11. And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.
The same thought is continued and developed.
That every tongue, etc., i.e., that all nations and peoples shall praise and honor the Son as they do the Father, recognizing the same glory in the Son as in the Father, as is said in John 5:23. But the Greek of this passage is as follows: “That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” In this reading the direct object of the confession is the universal sovereignty and therefore the Divinity of our Lord, and such a confession or recognition of the Son is ordained to the glory of the Father as to its last end: it is to the glory of the Father to have a Son to whom all things are subjected (Theophylact), the praise of Christ the Lord is to the glory of the Father (Estius). Thus, our Lord Himself said: “Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee” (John 17:1).
In verses 5-1 1 here we have the following dear teachings: (a) the Divinity of Jesus Christ and His consubstantiality with the Father; (b) the true humanity of Christ; (c) the union of two natures in the one Divine Person; (d) the merit of our Lord’s sacrificial obedience and death. In consequence we also have here the refutation of the following errors: (a) Arianism, which denied the consubstantiality and equality of the Son with the Father; (b) Sabellianism, which denied the plurality of persons in God; (c) Nestorianism, which held that there were two persons in Jesus Christ; (d) Eutychianism, which taught only one nature in Christ; (e) Docetism, which attributed to our Lord a fantastic and not a real body; (f) Apollinarism, which said the body of Christ was not like our bodies. Cf. St. Thomas, h. l.
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Resources for Palm Sunday Mass, April 17 (Ordinary & ExtraordinaryForms)
Posted by Dim Bulb on April 13, 2011
This post contains resources for both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite. The Processional Gospel is identical in both Forms, as is the Second (or Epistle) reading. The Gospel reading is shorter in the EF but is from Matthew and falls within the compass of the OF reading. For these reasons I have not provided two separate sections listing resources for the respective forms; rather, the resources are divided up under various categories.
Readings:
Mass Readings for the Ordinary Form.
Roman Missal for the Extraordinary Form. Latin and English.
Some General Resources on Palm Sunday:
The History Of Palm Sunday. by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B. From his classic work on the liturgy.
All About Palm Sunday. History, Information, Prayers, Resources, Traditions.
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Links below. Three talks delivered on Good Friday in 1977. These are only lengthy parts of a three hour talk and not the full presentation, nonetheless, they are excellent.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Processional Gospel:
Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Processional Gospel for Palm Sunday (Matt 21:1-11).
Juan de Maldonado’s Commentary on the Processional Gospel for Palm Sunday (Matt 21:1-11).
Notes From Word Sunday the Processional Gospel for Palm Sunday (Matt 21:1-11). Includes popular translation, literal translation, notes.
Homily on the Processional Gospel. By Bishop Bonomelli. (A.D. 1831-1914).
Homily on the Proper Reception of Holy Communion. Based on Matt 21:5, by Fr Augustine Wirth (A.D. 1828-1901).
First Reading:
Navarre Bible Commentary on Isaiah 50:4-7. Excerpted from the popular commentary.
Notes From Word Sunday on Isaiah 50:4-7. Brief notes.
Responsorial Psalm:
Word Sunday on Psalm 22. Brief notes covering the whole Psalm.
Aquinas on Psalm 22 (21). In Aquinas’ day the numbering of the Psalms was different and this particular one was identified as Psalm 21. Site includes both Latin and English text side by side.
Second Reading:
First Homily Of St John Chrysostom on Philippains 2:6-11. Long, deeply doctrinal, many may find it difficult.
Second Homily of St John Chrysostom on Philippians 2:6-11. Long, less doctrinal.
Aquinas’ Lectures on Philippians 2:6-11.
Father Brnardin de Piconio on Philippians 2:6-11. Piconio was a 17th century scholar whose commentary enjoyed wide popularity.
Pope John Paul II on Philippians 2:6-11.
Navarre Bible Commentary on Philippians 2:6-11.
Father Callan on Philippians 2:6-11. Father Callan was a well known biblical scholar and theologian in the first half of the 2oth century.
Notes from Word Sunday on Philippians 2:6-11. Includes popular and literal translation followed by notes.
Homily on Philippians 2:6-11. By Bishop Bonomelli (A.D. 18:31-1914).
Homily by St John Henry Newman. From his Parochial and Plain Sermons.
Gospel Reading:
Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Matt 26:1-27:66. Links below.
Navarre Bible Commentary on Matt 26:1-27:66. Not yet Available, will update.
Reflecting on the Gospel for Palm Sunday. Excerpted from THE GOSPEL OF MATTEW, part of a new commentary series on the NT for Catholics.
Word Sunday on Matt 26:14-27:66. Links below.
Father Donald Senior’s Commentary on Matt 26:1-27:66. Links below.
The Mental Sufferings of our Lord in His Passion. A homily by St John Henry Cardinal Newman from his Discourses to Mixed congregations.
More Resources:
Catholic Matters. Reflections and applications based upon the readings.
Bible Study. From St Charles Borromeo Parish. Includes notes on all the readings, including the Processional Gospel.
Dr Scott Hahn Podcast. Brief, does good job of relating the readings, highlighting theme(s).
St Martha’s Podcast. Looks at the readings in some detail, especially the Gospel.
Franciscan Sister’s bible Study Podcast. Not yet available, will update.
Haydock Bible Commentary. Readings from the Douay Rheims on the left, notes from the old Haydock commentary on the right.
Father Robert Barron’s Audio Homily. Fr. Barron is a well known theologian and speaker.
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