Reflections on Advent and Christmas
"The mystery of the Incarnation is that God chose to become one of us, in the humility of human flesh. It is the mystery of being Emmanuel, God-with-us, inviting us to live as people of hope." ~ Henri Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak,
The two biggest mysteries of the Christian faith are the Trinity and the Incarnation. When articulating the foundational mystery of the Trinity, human language falters. We have no adequate way to express how three distinct persons exist as one God; the very words seem contradictory. Similarly, the Incarnation—in which the second person of the Trinity took on human nature while remaining fully divine—is equally staggering, perhaps even more so.
During Advent, we prepare for the coming of Jesus into our hearts anew. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the incarnate God-made-man. If Jesus were born full-term, the Incarnation would have occurred around early April of the year He was born into the world.
In Jesus’s time, life was precarious for the vulnerable. Infanticide, abortion, and the abandonment of infants to die from exposure were commonplace in Roman society. Early Christians gained a reputation for rescuing these abandoned infants, a profound testament to their belief in the sanctity of all human life. The Incarnation underscores God’s solidarity with humanity in its most fragile form—an infant entirely dependent on the care and protection of others.
It’s a sobering thought that in the U.S. (and many other countries), unborn babies do not have universally recognized rights at the federal level. Their personhood often depends on legal contexts, such as criminal or civil law, inheritance, or the interpretations of state and federal courts. In many cases, the rights of the pregnant individual take precedence, particularly in decisions surrounding decisions to terminate a pregnancy, which is now often framed as "healthcare and bodily autonomy."
Key Themes of Reflection during Advent for me are:
The humility of the Incarnation: God entering into the human condition.
The anticipation of salvation: Advent points to God’s love breaking into time.
The union of heaven and earth: Through Christ, humanity is lifted to share in divine life.
In Seasons of Celebration, Thomas Merton reflects: "The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ."
St. Bernard of Clairvaux offers this beautiful insight: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This was so that the invisible might become visible, the incomprehensible comprehensible, the unapproachable approachable, the untouchable touchable, that the eternal Word of God might be seen, heard, and understood by men."
Saint Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373) declared: "The Son of God became man so that man might become God."This statement, made before the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, encapsulates the profound mystery of the Incarnation we celebrate during Advent and, at its pinnacle, Christmas. It unites God, who is pure spirit, with the material world.
Amid this world's chaos, brokenness, and violence, the meaning of Christmas arrives quietly, like fallen snow, with its eternal kiss of hope.
My second novel, The Better Part of Worse: A Novel of Hope, is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold. This story celebrates hope amidst the heartbreak of mental illness and the intrinsic value of every human life, no matter how conceived. I eagerly anticipate the audiobook's release (hopefully, also ) along with the novel on January 21, 2025. I absolutely LOVE the voice of my narrator and actress, Madeline Starr.
And if you take a peek under the Christmas tree, you’ll find another gift—my book, Stories to Grow By, written for my three youngest grandchildren under my children’s book pen name, Millie Nance.
"Look for Christ, and you will find Him. And with Him, everything else thrown in." – C.S. Lewis |
Denise-Marie Martin is the author of Tangled Violets: A Novel of Redemption, her first novel.
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