In his sermon on the second chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (2:6-11), St. Augustine stated:
“He was exalted, you see, from the beginning, because in the beginning was the Word. This exaltation is without beginning, without time, because through him all things were made. So what does the apostle say about it? ‘Since he was in the form of God, he says, he did not think it robbery to be equal to God (Phil 2:6); So, since he was in the form of God, he did not think it robbery to be equal to God. You have heard about his inexpressible exaltation: now hear about his humility. He emptied himself…Not by losing what he was, but by taking on what he was not.” (Sermo 265/E, DE QUADRAGESIMA ASCENSIONIS DOMINI).
One of the surest ways to understand Christ’s humbling (v.8) and his emptying (v.7) is to see His action in opposition to pride. In the City of God, Augustine discusses the fall of the human race as originating from the pride of the corrupted will (voluntas mala). Augustine sought to explain the ontological consequences of pride, in which human beings seek to be self-sufficient, and they live according to the illusion that their own base drives to overpower the will of God. Augustine then characterizes pride as a lie for the proud who live according to a false promise: “you shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:5). Here, an antithesis emerges between the lie of pride and the truth of humility. The pride will lead people to deny their makers and live by self-will, while obedience to the will of God can belong only to the truly humble. Those who hold on to their pride will choose themselves to build their own city of man, which includes only themselves as they love themselves and place their own ideas of good and evil over any consideration of what God has established. St. Augustine turns to the antidote of pride, that is humility, and Christ is the exemplar of humility. Christ not only relinquishes his Divinity but also, he refuses to cling to human life of honor and glory.
Today is the Election Day in the United States. Whatever the result of this election, we should remember that as followers of Christ, we must remember the City of God which has an existence and a real population composed of all those intelligent beings who would choose to love Christ – the Optimus Rex, above themselves.