Villa La Paz Newsletter December 2023

Incarnation: Christian Theol.
Effectuation of the hypostatic union through the conception of the Second Person of the Trinity in the womb of the Virgin Mary
Hypostasis: Christian Theol.
the union of the wholly divine nature and of a wholly human nature in the one person of Jesus Christ (in full hypostatic union)
Kenosis: Christian Theol.
the voluntary abasement of the Second Person of the Trinity in becoming man
Webster’s New World Dictionary Third College edition

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came to be through Him and without Him nothing came to be. What came to be
4 through Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race,
5 the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory of the Father’s only son full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-5, 14

Christmas is the season of light, of hope, of love, of compassion and concern for one’s fellow sojourners in this pilgrimage we call life. However the world is currently ensheathed in darkness as ethnic and national rage fuel wars, hunger, and bitterness. But rather than being disheartened and discouraged by the current flow of events we must look to the full implication of the Incarnation, the enfleshment of God and His living among us. We must hope and pray that the current world situation will come under the purview of the message that God gave us when He entered our existence. To this end I want to present vignettes that past and current writers wrote concerning the Incarnation of God that we might find peace instead of anxiety and despair concerning current events.

The Magi gaze deep in wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body. As they look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die.
St. Peter Chryologus

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor. God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:1, 5

The Lord would not only love his creation as a Father, but he would enter into his creation, emptying himself, hiding himself, as if he were not God but a creature. Why should he do this? Because he loved his creatures, and because he could not bear that his creatures should merely adore him as distant, remote, transcendent and all-powerful.
Thomas Merton

Perhaps it is because I am neck-deep in a season of motherhood and caretaking that I am more aware than ever of the startling and profound reality that I am a Christian not because of anything that I’ve done but because a teenage girl living is occupied Palestine at one of the most dangerous moments in history said yes—yes to God, yes to a wholehearted call she could not possibly understand, yes to vulnerability in the face of societal judgment…yes to a vision for herself and her little boy of a mission that would bring down rulers and lift up the humble, that would turn away the rich and fill the hungry with good things, that would scatter the proud and gather the lowly[see Luke 1:51-53], yes with a life that came with no guarantee of her safety or her son’s.

I know that Christians are Easter people. We are supposed to favor the story of the resurrection, which reminds us that death is never the end of God’s story. Yet I have never found that story half as compelling as the story of the Incarnation.
Rachel Held Evans

Don’t try to explain the Incarnation to me! It is further from being explainable than the furthest star in the furthest galaxy. It is love, God’s limitless love enfleshing that love into the form of a human being, Jesus, the Christ, fully human and fully divine.

Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, Christ, the maker of the universe or perhaps many universes, willingly and lovingly leaving all that power and coming to this poor, sin-filled planet to live with us for a few years to show us what we ought to be and could be. Christ came to us as Jesus of Nazareth, wholly human and wholly divine, to show us what it means to be made in God’s image.
Madeleine L’Engle

I think that we have hardly thought through the immense implications of the Incarnation. Where is God? God is where we are weak, vulnerable, small and dependent. God is where the poor are, the hungry, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, the powerless. How can we come to know God when our focus is elsewhere, on success, influence and power? Increasingly I believe that our faithfulness will depend on our willingness to go where there is brokenness, loneliness and human need. Each one of us is very seriously searching to live and grow in this belief, and by friendship we can support each other. I realize that the only way for us to stay well in the midst of the many “worlds” is to stay close to the small, vulnerable child that lives in our hearts and in every other human being. Often we do not know that the Christ child is within us. When we discover him we can truly rejoice.
Henri J.M. Nouwen

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it — because he is out of place in it, and yet must be in it – his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected because they are regarded as weak; and with those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, and are tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst.
Thomas Merton

When the song of the angels is stilled
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with the flocks,
then the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal those broken in spirit,
to feed the hungry,
to release the oppressed,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among all peoples,
to make a little music with the heart…

And to radiate the Light of Christ,
every day, in every way,
in all that we do and in all that we say.
Then the work of Christmas begins.
Howard Thurman

In any adverse situation, the children are the most vulnerable. The horrors of war, poverty, hunger are indelibly etched into their psyche. The children must be our priority. They must be rescued and shielded from the misfortunes of the world. We must advocate for them with the gifts which the good God has given us. What we have been gifted with has been given to us in stewardship, to be used for our own needs and the needs of others. Most importantly we must realize that we are all one, all children of the same Father. No man is an island. What affects one affects all.

I want to end this with a prayer from Pope St. John XXIII, often called the good pope because of his smiling demeanor and fatherly concern for the world. It carries with it all our aspirations for a better, more compassionate world.

O sweet Child of Bethlehem
grant that we may share with all our hearts
in the profound mystery of Christmas.
Put into the hearts of men and women this peace
for which they sometimes seek so desperately,
and which you alone can give them.
Help them to know one another better,
and to live as brothers and sisters,
children of the same Father.
Awaken in their hearts
love and gratitude for your infinite goodness.
Join them altogether in your love,
and give them your heavenly peace.
Amen.

From our family to yours may you have a Holy Christmas and Blessed New Year. Please remember us in your prayers.