Today Christians celebrate the Feast of the Incarnation
The late Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, once wrote: “By virtue of Creation, and even more of the Incarnation, nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see.”
If we believe in an incarnate God, in the Emmanuel (God-with-us), in the Divine who became human so that humanity could become divine (Irenaeus), then our spirituality must be Incarnational. Among other things, this means shifting some of our present paradigms:
- From an emphasis on Golgotha, to an emphasis on Bethlehem.
- From an emphasis on getting to heaven, to incarnating the reign of God, here and now.
- From wanting to leave matter and the body behind, to understanding that creation and our flesh and bones really do “matter.”
- From “private concerns” to social participation, and witness that violence, oppression and exploitation are never acceptable for a Christian.
- From an individual, personal and private relationship with God to a communal and relational spirituality that includes all of creation.
- From relationships based on position, role and productivity, to relationships based on the love of God who loved us first and calls us to that love.
How does the Incarnation influence my life here and now?
