The Incarnation is the most important doctrine of the Church, second only to the Trinity. It is absolutely crucial to understand the full meaning of the Word made flesh to live out our faith. The doctrine of the Incarnation was best summed up in the phrase by St. Cyril of Alexandria: the hypostatic union.
Fancy, huh?
“In the beginning” life was different. It was meant to be different: better, holy, beautiful. It was not meant to be a disaster, a series of dramas, scandals, and sins, of hurt, use and abuse; of weakness, sickness, sorrow and death. That was not the original plan.
The creation story in Genesis 1 and 2 is meant to reveal how that original plan was supposed to go and how much our Father loves us. See, when we look at the rest of creation, we see things that, just by existing, given Him glory. Mice, just by being mousy, give glory to God. Dogs, cats, termites, just by being themselves, offer to God all that He created them to offer.
But for humanity, He wanted to give us more, and in return wanted more from us. God created us for love, for us to share in His love by sharing in His freedom. He gave us the ability to choose to love Him, to serve Him, because if love is forced or coerced, it is not love.
For love to be real, it must be free.
Jesus Christ, God the Son, reveals to us the mystery of the inner life of God, showing through his words and deeds that God is not a solitary being, but is a communion of Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Son that has come to humanity to fully reveal the countenance of the Father, showing us the Eternal Father’s face through the incarnation.
In revealing to us the face of the Father, Jesus breaks open eternity for mankind, making a relationship with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit a real possibility for each and every one of us. The Trinity is as much the main message of the Good News as is the cross and Resurrection.
This self-giving, life-giving love is the heart of the Blessed Trinity and therefore, it is the heart of our Christian faith and morality.
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In revealing to us the face of the Father, Jesus breaks open eternity for mankind, making a relationship with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit a real possibility for each and every one of us. The Trinity is as much the main message of the Good News as is the cross and Resurrection.
This self-giving, life-giving love is the heart of the Blessed Trinity and therefore, it is the heart of our Christian faith and morality.
If there was one essential point to the Theology of the Body that Pope John Paul II gave in his Wednesday Audiences over the period of five or so years, that I could distill out and give to you today, it would be this: the whole human person, soul and body, is caught up in the beautiful drama of love and life.Love is more than just feelings, than a stirring of the senses and the thrill of physical touch. It is so much more than that, but it sure wouldn’t be the same without all that! God did not create us to be angels, but man, male and female. We have bodies, with goose-bumpy skin, responsive nerve endings, and hormone tidal waves that could overwhelm a giant.
I mean, sheesh, there are a lot of Christian writers out there who will tell you that love is not about emotion, but commitment; that sensuality only clouds knowledge; and that your hormones are best to be suppressed by cold showers and a part-time job after school.
But not Pope John Paul II, a man who never knew the marriage bed. He tells us the truth.
But not Pope John Paul II, a man who never knew the marriage bed. He tells us the truth.