This Sunday’s second reading is from St. Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi and contains the most beautiful poem about Christ (in my humble opinion…) It is often referred to as the “Philippians Hymn” or the “Christ Hymn” and some scholars believe it was written in the mid 30’s A.D. This means during the years immediately following Jesus’ resurrection! By 62 A.D. when Paul was writing to the Philippians, he included this poem in the letter and due to its distinctness from the rest of the letter and Paul’s “style”, it causes us to believe it was well known by both the Apostle and this community and was one of the first universal hymns about Jesus Christ.

One of my favorite seminary professors, Msgr. John P. Meier, gave a brilliant lecture about the Christ Hymn in which he noted that the final line uses the Greek word κύριος (Kyrie) about Jesus. This is the word for Lord, as in, “Jesus Christ is Lord. It seems so obvious to us that Jesus is Lord that we read this and typically just keep moving through the passage. But Prof. Meier reminded us that the Jewish people did not use the holy name of God in their Scriptures, instead substituting the word אֲדֹנָי (Adonai) which in Greek is translated Kyrie.

[Hopefully you’re still with me and haven’t moved on to the Knights’ ads about the Grotto pavers… ]

Therefore, when the first Christians - mostly Jewish remember - sang that Jesus Christ is Kryrie they were proclaiming that Jesus was in fact equal with God the Father! Anyone who would have thought Jesus was just another holy man, good prophet and wise teacher, would have scoffed and been offended that they proclaimed Him God - but so Jesus is: He, who did not cling to divine glory, who emptied Himself and became a slave and was tortured to death on a cross, had been given eternal glory by the Father and is now recognized by all dimensions and creatures as God. Glory be to Jesus Christ now and forever!

A warm (though thankfully a little less scorching) Arizona welcome to my mom, Deborah, who has been visiting us for the past few days. She is an amazing person, even without my bias as her favorite son. Mom lives in Ohio and is a sacristan in our parish, Clyde St. Mary’s, as well as a chef for the priests of the Diocese of Toledo and an expert at crocheting. In fact she’s crocheted stuffed bears and turtles for several of our young parishioners during their recuperations from health scares. Mom is in town to help us with the “Dinner with the Padres” purchased by the Van Parys family at last April’s Gala. We’re already looking forward to her next visit for the same dinner with the Lauer family!

October is a special month of devotion to Mary through the Holy Rosary. Many of us love this special prayer form and I hope you’ll find time to include the rosary in your day. Remember, the family that prays together stays together!

Fr. David Halm, C.S.C.

Pastor

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