TEXT: Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 27, 2026
September 27, 2026 Father De Celles Homily
26th Sunday Ordinary Time
September 27, 2026
Homily by Fr. John De Celles
St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church
Springfield, VA
Throughout the Scriptures we find various canticles, songs and prayers
that use beautifully poetic language to capture certain profound truths
in ways that ordinary words can’t even begin to.
Today’s 2nd reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians
contains such a canticle.
It tells us, in part:
“Though he was in the form of God,
[Jesus] did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness…he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.”
If we reflect carefully on these words, we see
that they are some of the most illuminating and edifying in all of Scripture,
as St. Paul summarizes the whole mystery
of the love of God communicated to us
through the incarnation, life and death of God the Son.
They reach from
the very first moment of Jesus’ human life in the womb of His Mother, Mary,
when He “[took] the form of a slave,”
across the span of thirty years of growing up, working and preaching,
as He “[came to us] in human likeness,”
to the very last moment of His human life,
“the point of death…death on a cross.”
It’s a marvelous mystery that St. Paul sums up with three sublime words:
“He humbled himself.”
To think of Jesus the Man as humble may not be too difficult.
But to think of Jesus who is also God Himself as humble
seems almost impossible and a contradiction of terms.
Think about it.
The all-powerful God the Son, who had existed from all eternity
in perfect love and glory with the Father and Holy Spirit,
and with them created heaven and earth and sustained it.
The God to whom all the angels of heaven gave every form of worship,
and to whom all the prayers of earth arose.
This is the one who stripped Himself of all His resplendent glory
to become one of the lowly creatures He Himself had formed
from the dust of the earth.
He did not become just any creature,
but the creature whom He had created so that He could love Him,
and to whom He gave all the rest of Creation as a gift.
But also the creature who rejected that love and gift
in the first act of Original Sin by Adam.
What a terrible catastrophe the sin of the first Adam was,
but what a marvelous blessing the life of the second Adam, Jesus is.
Where prideful Adam defiantly rejected the will of God,
humble Jesus obediently accepted the will of His Father.
Adam wanted to be “like God”, and so he grasped at the apple of the tree,
but “Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.”
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Today’s 1st reading tells us:
“You say, ‘The LORD’s way is not fair!’
[But the Lord says],
‘Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?’”
The Old Testament is one long story of how–right from the beginning—
God has given mankind everything we could ever want,
and how man hardly ever gives anything back in return.
Yet, God kept loving and giving,
until He gave so much that “he emptied himself.”
Are man’s ways fair? NO.
Are God’s ways fair?
Well, maybe you could say they aren’t “fair”
because they are more than fair to man, and not fair at all to God:
God is simply too humble to care about what’s fair to Him—
He allows nothing to keep Him from giving us everything we need.
_____
Today’s canticle begins with an exhortation:
“Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.”
If in baptism we die to our old life rooted in the sin of Adam’s pride
and are given a share in the new life of Christ Himself,
then we must live like Christ—we must be humble and obedient.
But nowadays the world we live in places very little value in concepts
like humility and obedience.
Instead, it exalts pride and selfishness.
And at the same time, it’s also filled with greed, hatred, violence and sin.
Political activists riot in the streets, burn buildings and shoot even the police.
Neighbors kill each other, and the races still struggle to live together in peace.
Even some families live together in mutual contempt or loneliness,
and mothers kill their babies in their wombs.
This world is very different than God created it to be.
But what kind of a world would we live in
if only we could be like God created us to be
—if we would be like Jesus?
What if we would, as St. Paul says today,
“Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also for those of others”?
Today’s Gospel tells us about two sons who act with pride:
The first pridefully lies to his father; the second pridefully defies his father.
What if sons and daughters,
instead of rebelling in pride against the demands of parents,
would instead humbly assume that their parents genuinely love them
and just might know what they’re doing?
And what if when a child lied to or defied his parents,
instead of the parents letting pride take over and lead them to anger,
or letting fear lead them to spoiling the child,
his parents would humbly stop and honestly choose
the response that is truly best for their child?
And what if husbands and wives
humbly regarded each as more important than themselves and
their own personal ambitions, desires or egos?
Life at work would be much easier if bosses and employees
looked out not just for their own individual interests,
but also for the interest of each other and their customers
—and their families.
Life at school would be much more peaceful and productive
if students would humbly recognize the gift
that hard-working teachers are trying to give them,
and that their teachers know some things they don’t;
and if teachers would humbly seek to meet the true needs of their students
and not simply to teach them what they enjoy teaching
or find easiest to teach;
and if parents would humbly admit the weaknesses of their children,
even as they also humbly accept the truth
that their own primary vocation
does not involve making a lot of money
or having a successful career,
but raising and educating their children
in human knowledge and divine truth.
Life in the Church would be much more bountiful if
bishops and priests were less concerned about being admired or liked,
or protecting their positions of prestige or power,
and more concerned about humbly obeying—and passing on—
the teachings of Christ and His Church
and living a life exemplifying Christian humility.
And all of us would be much holier
if we would just humbly serve God and one another
as Christ has served His Father and each of us:
if we could humbly lay down our lives “even on a cross.”
From the pope, to the newly baptized,
we’re all called to share in the divine life of Jesus Christ
by first becoming humble before God and each other.
Of course, each would do this in a way appropriate to their state in life.
For example, Christ is humble, but he’s also God.
So, while sometimes He’s gentle and tender in humility,
at other times He reprimands and chastises in humility.
True humility isn’t being stupid, or weak or masochistic.
It’s accepting who you are in relation to God and to others,
and willingly doing whatever is necessary–no matter how humiliating–
to fulfill your responsibilities in those relationships.
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The humility of Christ is shown to us in many ways,
but one of the most amazing ways is found in what we do here today.
Think about it.
As we come here to enter into God’s glorious presence,
He comes to us not riding on a great chariot coming down from heaven,
but rather He comes under the appearance
of a simple piece of bread and cup of wine.
And He allows me—a mere human creature—
to, in a certain sense, command Him—my creator—
to become really present under these appearances.
Then He lets us all take Him into our bodies as food.
Today, as we come to this Eucharist,
we find ourselves literally face to face with the God
who willingly emptied Himself of all the Glory of heaven
so that He could give us a share in His own life and love.
As we receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, the one who
“humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross,”
let us ask Him to put our pride to death in this sacrifice,
–to empty us of all pride and fill us with His humility and obedience.
And as we come into His presence, let us humbly fall on our knees
rejoicing and praising and adoring Him,
remembering that because of His humility
we can see His true power and glory,
“[so] that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue proclaim,
to the glory of God the Father, that
Jesus Christ is Lord!”