The Incarnation: the glorification of humanity

Katie van Schaijik | Dec 26, 2009

Having patiently and tenderly prepared a people for an age—drawing them out of misery, teaching them Himself and about their true worth and high calling—the God of glory descends to dwell enfleshed among us; humanity is taken up to the heights of divinity.

Gloria in excelsis Deo! And on earth, peace to men of goodwill.

From the Pope’s Christmas homily

The Lord is here. From this moment, God is truly “God with us”. No longer is he the distant God who can in some way be perceived from afar, in creation and in our own consciousness. He has entered the world. He is close to us. The words of the risen Christ to his followers are addressed also to us: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). For you the Saviour is born: through the Gospel and those who proclaim it, God now reminds us of the message that the Angel announced to the shepherds. It is a message that cannot leave us indifferent. If it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it also affects me. Like the shepherds, then, I too must say: Come on, I want to go to Bethlehem to see the Word that has occurred there. The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received.

Note the personalist emphases. “If it is true, it also affects me.” Tua res agitur. Our motto. The thing concerns you. The Incarnation is momentous for humanity, for the human person as such, and for each of us, intimately, in our individuality, in our day to day living, and in our ultimately destiny.

O come, let us adore Him!