THE IMPROBABLE POWER OF THE INCARNATION: The divine archetype.

You can’t make this stuff up, even in Hollywood. The Incarnation Moment is so beyond the ability of humans to put it out of that hat that is so improbable that such an event could occur within normal limits of human experiences. Where does all of this God stuff come from? If the disciples made it up, ad they were undoubtedly its authors, the way that all of it fits together is astounding.

The Incarnation Moment begins with a new paradigm. Using the map (attribution unknown) of Teilhard de Chardin on movement from simplicity to the complexity of reality would be the beginning of the Christoshere. I contend that Israel had developed in a direction that would not have allowed its intelligent progression to move beyond being exclusively inward to keeping the laws. While this is good, it does not allow Israel’s progression to be a light of revelation to the Gentiles. Christ’s becoming human by God reaching down and lifting up Israel to the next level of spiritual evolution, does not make sense to human reasoning, especially if the expectations of the Chosen People are for someone to lead them out of the slavery of the Romans and other hostile nations.

It is significant to see the parallels between Christ and Adam and no less remarkable between the Blessed Mother and Eve. St. Paul writes insightfully about how Christ is the second Adam, how He became sin for us, although He knew no sin. In order for that to happen, Christ’s mother had to be sinless as a vessel to hold the Son of God in her womb and be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, like Adam, is an archetype, beyond that of just a mere type. Adam represents humanity in the book of Genesis, created by God to be a gardener or steward of all that we know exists. Jesus inherits that mantel and expands it to include the earth and into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus had to be God to lift up humanity to the next level of intelligent progression. With Adam, God reached down (a mere human explanation for that which cannot be explained) and lifted humanity up to the next level from animality.

Something wonderful happened when Mary assented to God’s will. This new paradigm began. Mary is the woman who changed time itself, ushering in a new phase of humanity’s journey toward its destiny. With the Incarnation, the choice was restored through Christ. Humans still don’t have the power to lift themselves up to the Father to give their free will as a sacrifice of praise to the Father. Only through Christ, who is now human and divine, can I as individual and we as individuals in the Church Universal, together lift up our hearts to the Lord in prayer, in Eucharist, in Penance, in love, one that is the acceptable sacrifice of Abraham, the fulfillment of the sacrifice of the unblemished Lamb to make atonement for sins and to receive that Lamb as part of the Thanksgiving Covenant. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

in our inexorable journey from creation to Omega, Christ assumes the types of all who went before (Abraham, Moses, David) plus fulfill the prophets’ call to move from sacrificing animals as an expiation for sins to showing mercy toward others. Genesis is a mythical collection of writings to show what it means to be human, inexorably moving forward from reliance on self as the center of reality to a new reality. This reality takes the inescapable movement of humanity from just being an animal who reasons to one that moves to the next level of human evolution, replacing evil behaviors with those that lead to a higher level of humanity. The problem was, and still is, humans must submit their wills to a force outside of themselves, once not easily done without totally abandoning or dying to the old wine in skins. This is the speed bump or what Scriptures call “the sign of contradiction,” to the Gentiles, it seems foolish, and to the Jews always a stumbling block.

Jesus, being both God and Human, fulfills his destiny (John 17) and that of all humans by allowing us to move forward in humanity’s quest toward Omega. There are a couple of requirements now. First, you must be Baptized in water and the Spirit; water signifies death to self and being washed with the Blood of the Lamb of God, and Spirit, the Second Advocate, who overshadows each person as they struggle with the effects of original sin against their adoption as sons and daughters of the Father. This Baptism is the power of the Incarnation in each person who takes up their cross daily and seeks to discover Christ in whatever comes their way.

Being one who has adopted The Cistercian Way, I have dedicated my life remaining to seek mercy for the times I failed to see Christ in specific people I met and seeking their forgiveness, and giving praise to the Father through, with, and in Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit. This energy allows humanity to move forward in human space and time to fulfill their destiny while using Faith (energy) informed by reason to make sense out of the chaos of how humans act (especially those in the Church).

The improbability of the Incarnation is not only that God would love such a pitiable broken-down, old Lay Cistercian like me, but that, like Christ taking on the nature of a slave (Philippians 2:5-12), he would take up residence in this temple, knowing how vulnerable and fickle my Faith is because of original sin. With Lay Cistercian practices and Charisms (silence, solitude, prayer, work, in the context of a community of monks), I seek to put Christ each day where there is no Christ, to seek to grow in Christ (capacitas dei) each day, to never take for granted the love which is so strong as I sit on that park bench in the dead of winter waiting for Christ to sit next to me, my heart beating next to His.

The Eucharist, Christ’s living in our midst, is not a symbol, as is the cross. The power of the Incarnation is that each day I pray, each time I lift up my heart to the Lord through, with, and in Christ, I become more human, inching my way to the parousia, wobbling on the rocky road to fulfill my adoption.

In the face of all this astounding love and energy of God, I look at all the effects of original sin around me, all the forgotten homeless because of earthquakes and floods, those innocents preyed upon by pedophiles and incest, all the poverty around me, all those who exploit others in the name of money, power, and pride, and see despair for humanity. The world, if you read statistics, is growing more atheistic (although I believe it is apathy, not atheism). What can I do in the face of all of this chaos?

I choose not to let the world’s sinfulness seduce me into thinking there is no hope. If I want love in my life, I must put it there. If I want Hope (upper case intentional) there, I must do something to put it there. At 82++, I cannot change what I cannot change. However, I do have the power to say YES to having the Holy Spirit overshadow me as I pray for those who seek to destroy humanity, who deny a God they cannot see, who wage war in the name of nationalism, who kill babies as if it was righteous. The truth will prevail because Christ is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.

One thing, I seek is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I share with you this prayer that brings me comfort, actualized the Incarnation, and restores my faith that all of this is in the Lord’s hands not mine.

Of David.

I

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear?

The LORD is my life’s refuge;

of whom should I be afraid?

2 When evildoers come at me

to devour my flesh,^*b

These my enemies and foes

themselves stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me,

my heart does not fear;

Though war be waged against me,

even then do I trust.

II

4 One thing I ask of the LORD;

this I seek:

To dwell in the LORD’s house

all the days of my life,

To gaze on the LORD’s beauty,

to visit his temple.^c

5 For God will hide me in his shelter

in time of trouble,^d

He will conceal me in the cover of his tent;

and set me high upon a rock.

6 Even now my head is held high

above my enemies on every side!

I will offer in his tent

sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and chant praise to the LORD.

B

I

7 Hear my voice, LORD, when I call;

have mercy on me and answer me.

8 “Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”;^*

your face, LORD, do I seek!^e

9 Do not hide your face from me;

do not repel your servant in anger.

You are my salvation; do not cast me off;

do not forsake me, God my savior!

10 Even if my father and mother forsake me,

the LORD will take me in.^f

II

11 LORD, show me your way;

lead me on a level path

because of my enemies.^g

12 Do not abandon me to the desire of my foes;

malicious and lying witnesses have risen against me.

13 I believe I shall see the LORD’s goodness

in the land of the living.^*h

14 Wait for the LORD, take courage;

be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!

These thoughts are my thoughts. These feelings are the ones I feel. I wish to become what the Psalmist states. “Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord.”