Ping.
I think my biggest problem with incarnation could be the loss of freedom. I think being locked up ina 10X8 cell would drive me batty even if I had books, t.v., videos, etc.
;^)
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
That being said, I wish you and your family a most joyus and meaningful Christmas. May the Father grant all of us, Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, strength and courage for the times ahead.
I’ll take the plunge here, despite my reservations: “..the Catholic way, while affirming the uniqueness of the Incarnation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, also tends to see “incarnation” as an eternal reality to be lived and breathed by the follower of Jesus. Catholics believe God, in becoming human, was not simply performing an isolated miracle: He was establishing an eternal principle. In the Incarnation, Catholics believe, God was committing Himself to revealing His power and grace in and through human things.”
Therein lies the core reason why I can’t speak to non-”Orthodox” Roman Catholics about the reality of Catholicism. On the one hand I believe this to the point of near knowledge of the reality of the eternal Incarnation. On the other, it’s virtually incomprehensible to someone who hasn’t immersed themselves in meditation upon this reality, and then, once comprhended, the concept of the Incarnation and the reality it presents to us is inexplicable. The beauty of this article lies in it’s daring to speak to the “fear” that embracing the Incarnation as an ongoing reality creates. And it is that “fear” which I’ve come to understand what was meant by biblical references to “fear of God”.
It’s interesting to note in the reading of this article the lengths of mental gymnastics some will go to negate the meaning and intent of the Incarnation. It’s understandable however considering the extent to which it farkles with the Western mind’s frame of reference relative to it’s imperfect and self-limiting understanding of Time as being purely linear.
One of my favorite books on this subject can be had for not much, God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. (available, as is most everything, on Amazon). But, there again, I’ve noted that even our Popes have somewhat danced around the core issue. They point to it without attempting to explain it’s meaning. Well, it is rather radical, but so was the entirety of the Jesus event.
I heard Jerry Falwell quoted as saying something along the lines of “If I believed about the Eucharist what you Catholics say you believe, I’d crawl down that aisle on my belly.” Don’t know for sure if he really did say that, but it’s a pretty good observation.