Villa La Paz Newsletter December 2024

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

The common Christian reading of the Bible is that Jesus “died for our sins”—either to pay a debt to the devil (common in the first millenium) or to pay a debt to God the Father (proposed byAnselm of Canterbury, 1033-1109). Anselm’s infamous Cur Deus Homo has been called “the most unfortunatly successful piece of theology ever written.” My hero, Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus (1266-1308) agreed with neither of these understandings. Scotus was not guided by the Temple language of debt, atonement, or blood sacrifice (understandably used in the Gospels and by Paul). He was inspired by the high level cosmic hymns in the first chapters of Colossians and Ephesians and the first chapter of John’s Gospel. For Scotus the Incarnanation of God and the redemption of the world could never be a mop-up exercise in response to human sinfulness but the proactive work of God from the very beginning. Our sin could not possibly be the motive for the Divine Incarnation but only perfect love and divine selfrevelation. For Scotus God never reacts but always supremely and freely acts and always acts totally out of love.
Father Richard Rohr

God’s primary purpose for becoming incarnate is grounded in the divine desire to love, to be our beginning and our end, to be “God with us,” in order that we might dwell in the presence of the divine.
Ilia Delio, OSF
from the book The Humility of God,
A Franciscan Perspective.

God came to us because He wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving toward the house of peace and joy. This is the great mystery of Christmas that continues to give us comfort and consolation: we are not alone on our journey. The God of love who gave us life sent His only Son to be with us at all times and in all places, so that we never have to feel lost in our struggles but always can trust that He walks with us. Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and to let Him, whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend, be our companion.
Henri J.M. Nouwen

Why the Incarnation? Why did God, Who is infinite, empty Himself and take on human flesh with its limitations and sufferings and become subject to and dependent upon those He created? Two traditions exist to explain the why of the Incarnation. One tradition states that the Son of God took on human flesh to right the wrong that our first parents committed, and that since an infinite being , God the Father, had been offended only an infinite being could satisfy that offense, and that satisfaction was obtained through the incarnation, suffering and death of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. However, there is another tradition that goes back to the fathers of the early church and is clearly expressed in Franciscan sprituality. This tradition states that God embraces all of creation as a father embraces his children and that because of His infinite love for creation He wanted to enter it and become a part of it physically. As a person in love wants to be with the person loved, to become one with the person loved, so God desired to enter creation and become one with it. His entry point into creation was as a creature made in His image and likeness, the pinnacle of His creation, a human person. He demonstrated His preference for the poor and simple by being born in a stable, without fanfare or recognition, to a poor woman and her carpenter husband, attended by lowing animals and poor shepherds. Since He was of the human condition He would experience the joys, sorrows, pleasures and sufferings so inherent to the human state. This then is what we celebrate at Christmas. We celebrate the Incarnation, the birth of Love among us and we celebrate Love’s desire to become part of creation by becoming human. By physically entering creation and taking on its elements, God has sanctified it, has clothed it with the dignity of the divine presence. Creation, then, must be respected, protected and loved and nowhere is this more imperative than in the respect, protection and love of God’s children. The children of the world and the children on these pages are the face of God and their joys, sorrows, pleasures, and sufferings reflect His. Like Him at the Incarnation they are innocent and totally dependent on us for their care. Their unconditional love reflects His and our caring for them is redemptive.

The spirituality of Christmas and the mutual love it engenders must not end on December 25 but must continue throughout the year. We must continue to be beacons of God’s love to one another.

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

Our prayer is that the coming year will see an end to the conflicts raging in the world, that poverty and inequality will be vanquished, and that, indeed, the Light of Christ will shine and illuminate us to continue the work of Christmas.

God’s blessings and peace to you and yours during the celebration of His birth and in the New Year. Please remember us in your prayers.