September 5, 2025 - Friday of the 22nd week of Ordinary Time
HOMILY
In the first reading, taken from the Letter to the Colossians, Paul gives us a Christological hymn consisting of two stanzas, one referring to creation, the other to redemption. In the first, Christ is presented as the firstborn of creation, before all creatures; in the second, He is presented as the firstborn from the dead, the firstborn of a multitude of brothers, all firstborn, born to new life in the waters of baptism.
Since we are still in the early chapters of Luke's Gospel, it is perhaps appropriate to point out that this Christological hymn helps us to understand a passage in the first chapter of Luke, where it is said that, during Mary's journey to Bethlehem of Judea for the census, her time came, and she gave birth to her son, the firstborn (o prototokos).
It is incorrect to translate this, as is often done, as “she gave birth to her firstborn son.” In Greek, as in Hebrew, when referring to the firstborn in relation to the mother, an expression is used that means “the one who opens the womb”; as for the noun “prototokos,” it always refers to the firstborn in relation to the father. An accurate translation of the Greek in this first chapter of Luke should therefore be: "She (Mary) gave birth to her son, the Firstborn," that is, the Firstborn of the eternal Father, according to the title of Christ found in the Christological hymn in the letter to the Colossians that we have just read.
Jesus, son of Mary, is therefore the Firstborn of all creation, the one of whom all creation is but a faint reflection. He is also the firstborn from the dead, the first of a multitude of brothers to rise from the dead, thus revealing to us the glory to which we too are all called.
This Firstborn is also the Bridegroom of whom today's Gospel speaks. From the Resurrection until the Parousia, this Bridegroom has been taken from us; this is the period when it makes sense to fast and do penance, as we await the full manifestation of the Firstborn and his Father in the Light of the Spirit.
Armand Veilleux