“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). These words describe the event that changed the history of the world forever. An event that would have been unimaginable if it had not happened. The Eternal, All Powerful, Infinite, Divine Logos, the One who hung the stars and created the smallest molecules, the One through whom “all things came to be” (Jn 1:3), this One, humbled himself and took on our human nature and began life as a one-celled human embryo in the womb of Mary.
When Jesus Christ took flesh in Mary’s womb, all of the created world was somehow touched and made new, because the divine life of God uniting with our human nature made it possible for human beings once again to have eternal life. This unseen event in the home of Mary in Nazareth would begin the restoration of the evil events that had cursed humanity (and still curse it today) because of the effects of sin in the world. The beginning of this restoration of life through the incarnation of Jesus Christ is what we celebrate at Christmas, and we will celebrate its fulfillment at Easter.
God’s method of salvation also tells us about how this restoration has to happen in our lives and in our world. God saves us through the Incarnation, entering into our human life. He brings his divine life to humanity, in order that we might in turn sanctify our human lives. That is, he wants us to begin to live, even in this world, a divine life. The divine and living presence of God in Jesus Christ does not cease to be with us when Jesus ascends to heaven. Rather, his Holy Spirit continues his divine presence in his Church, which is his body acting in the world. This happens certainly through the sacraments, which carry with them the effective power of his divinity to transform those who are open to their grace, but also through each member of the body of Christ, who becomes a living temple of God!
Each of us, in some way, through our baptism become Jesus living in the world today. He wants to continue to live his divine life in and through you and me: Our actions, when they are filled with his love, become him loving and healing through us; our teaching, when it is in accord with his Word, becomes him making present eternal truth through us; our sufferings, when we unite them to him, become fruitful for the salvation of the world; and, most importantly, our prayer, when united with his great self-offering of the cross made present at Mass, becomes one with his true worship of the Father. The Incarnation, the divine life of God, continues in the world through us.
This divinization (making divine!) of life was the goal of the Incarnation, but it doesn’t happen by magic. It happens by intention, as we seek to incarnate God’s truth and love into the concrete fabric of our human lives. This is why Christians have always developed patterns of living that help them make their days, weeks, months, years holy. We make the day holy by intentional practices like morning and evening prayer, daily meditation and examination of conscience. We make the week holy by fasting on Fridays to remember Christ’s death and setting aside Sunday as the Lord’s day for worship of God and special time with family and friends. We make the months holy by feasting on feast days and fasting on fast days, by entering fully into the seasons of Advent and Lent, to prepare ourselves for the full celebration of Christmas and Easter. All this flows from the Incarnation. God entered our time, our human life, so through these intentional practices that sanctify time and daily life we are reminded of God’s presence with us. Thus, through prayer and service, our life becomes more divine.
This is what it means to take the Incarnation seriously. It means that I set up my daily life so that the pattern of my life pushes me toward holiness. Especially as we begin this new year, you might ask yourself: God has become incarnate for me, to draw close to me, how am I incarnating his life and love in my daily, weekly, monthly life? Do I seek to sanctify the day through prayer? Do I seek to sanctify the week through keeping holy the Sabbath? Do I seek to serve others intentionally each month? Do I go to regular confession? Do I seek to live intentional Christian friendships?
As part of preparation for the Archdiocesan Synod, during the season of Lent we will invite families and households to do what we are calling a “Synod at Home.” The purpose of this will be to help you concretely look at your rhythm of life and develop a plan for sanctifying your life more so you can live more the divine life you are called to by your baptism. As you give thanks to God for the incredible gift of God in Jesus Christ this Christmas, open your heart to God and ask him to show you how his becoming human can help you live more divine.
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