The Incarnate Mystery

 


The Incarnate Mystery: Flesh and Spirit Wedded in Divine Union

The most grievous foe of our holy faith, from its first dawning till this hour, hath ever been the attempt to sever Christ from the flesh. This dark deception, sown by the spirit of antichrist, would make void the glory of the Incarnation. St. John hath declared, "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." Herein lies the great battle: whether Christ shall be worshipped as God in the flesh, or whether the flesh shall be scorned as a hindrance to the spiritual life.
Christianity is no ethereal vision, hovering in the clouds, detached from the earth below. Nay, it is the marriage of heaven and earth, the Eternal Word made flesh. To divorce the spiritual from the physical is not only error but heresy most vile. For the same God who breathed life into Adam hath condescended to take flesh of a woman, making the human body a temple of the Divine Presence.
The apocalyptic vision in Revelation unveils this warfare, as the dragon rages against the woman clothed with the sun. Why such hatred? Because the woman brings forth the Christ in the flesh. Even now, the dragon wages war upon the body, whether in the form of the slaughter of the unborn, the denial of man and woman’s created nature, or the degradation of human sexuality. This battle is waged not only in the heavens but in the sanctuary of the human body.
The mystery of our redemption is bound to the body. When our Lord proclaimed, "This is my body, given for you," He did not speak of a fleeting spirit but of flesh and blood offered up for the life of the world. The cross is not an escape from the body but its consecration. The enemy would have us believe that salvation is a flight from the body, yet the gospel declares the redemption of the body, raised, glorified, and fit for eternal communion with God.
A subtle yet deadly poison hath entered the hearts of many, whereby they deem the body a prison from which the soul must break free. Such ex-carnate spirituality is not of God but of the fallen one, who envies the body’s glory and its power to generate life. The angels, though pure spirits, bow in wonder before the human body, which is destined to share in the bliss of the Trinity. Lucifer, in his pride, seeks to sow contempt where heaven sows reverence.
God, who is infinite, hath chosen to enter the finite. The womb of the Virgin became the holy gate through which the Creator came to dwell among us. Her body was no obstacle to the Divine, but the very vessel of the mystery. True holiness doth not despise the flesh but exalts it. The body is not a burden to be shed but a temple wherein God desires to make His dwelling.
O blessed Mary, who opened thy body to the living God, teach us to welcome Him in every fibre of our being. The final victory of our faith is not in the escape from the body, but in the resurrection of the body. Let every heart repent of the ancient lie that scorns the flesh. Let us believe the glad tidings that God hath wed Himself to our humanity, body and soul, and that this union shall never be undone. Amen.

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