Sermons by the Fathers of the Congregation of St. Paul the Apostle, Volume VI.Paulist Fathers
Religion
Sermons by the Fathers of the Congregation of St. Paul the Apostle, Volume VI.
Paulist Fathers
Catholic Church -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 19th century
Look, again, at the Mystery of the Incarnation, in which are
included the other Mysteries of the Regeneration and Redemption
of man. We can not understand its manner. We cannot see how it
is, any more than we can understand how the Son is begotten of
the Father, or how the Holy Ghost proceeds from them both.
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But the Trinity illuminates that also, and enlightens us to see
and believe it, now that it is revealed to us. Like Creation, it
is an act of the Trinity, because it is God uniting His Divine
Person of the Son to humanity, His created image. This is why our
Lord, as Man as well as God, calls Himself the Son of God. This
is why the Apostle calls us, who are His brethren in the flesh,
sons of God. It is the act of God as the Father. "God so loved
the world, as to give his only-begotten Son." [Footnote 47] It is
an act of God as the Son. In His last discourse, Jesus says to
His disciples: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into
the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father."
[Footnote 48] It is an act of the Holy Ghost. As we say in the
Creed, and as the Scripture testifies, "He was conceived by the
Holy Ghost."
[Footnote 47: S. John iii. 16.]
[Footnote 48: __Ibid__. xvi. 23.]
[USCCB: John xvi. 28.]
The mystery of the Trinity thus enables us to recognize the
Divinity of the Person of Jesus Christ, as also the sublime
character and object of His Incarnation. It reveals to us the
true destiny of man, and shows us how the very reason of creation
is in God Himself, and is to find its end, its accomplishment and
fruition in God. For, as you see, the Incarnation was an act, of
which the Person of God Himself was the object.
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It was God communicating His Divine Life to the creature, and
thus all creatures, through Jesus, who is the First-Born of them
all, are to find their destiny, the end of their creation, in
eternal union with the Divine Life. "I am the Life," said our
Lord, and "because I live, you shall live." [Footnote 49] He and
the Father are one. But, O wonderful revelation! "In that day you
shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
[Footnote 50]
[Footnote 49: St. John xiv. 6 and 19.]
[Footnote 50: __Ibid__. 20.]
"God hath sent His only-begotten Son into the world," says St.
John, "that we may live by Him." [Footnote 51] "Ye are the
temples of the living God," [Footnote 52] exclaims St. Paul. "We
are made partakers of the Divine nature," [Footnote 53] says St.
Peter. And St. Paul again designates us, first, as the "partakers
of Christ," [Footnote 54] and next as the "partakers of the Holy
Ghost." [Footnote 55]
[Footnote 51: Ep. St. John iv. 9.]
[Footnote 52: 2 Cor. vi. 16.]
[Footnote 53: 2 Ep. St. Peter i. 4.]
[Footnote 54: Heb. iii. 14.]
[Footnote 55: Heb. vi. 4.]
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