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| At the Grotto in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity Where Jesus Christ came among us |
Gregory of Nazianzus was a Cappadocian Father who served as Bishop of Constantinople and lived in the fourth century. He was a close friend of Blessed Basil the Great and Blessed Gregory of Nyssa. In his "Letter to Cledonius," he gives to the universal Church a rich understanding of the true nature of what happened that first Christmas, and of its importance in the life of the Christian.
"For we do not separate the man from the Godhead; we teach that he is one and the same. Formerly, he was not man, but only God the Son, before all ages, unconnected with a body or anything corporeal. But in time he became man also, assuming manhood for our salvation; passable in the flesh, impassable in the Godhead; limited in the body, unconfined in the spirit; on the earth and at the same time in heaven; belonging to the visible world, and also to the intelligible order of being; comprehensible and also incomprehensible; so that man as a whole, since he had fallen into sin, might be fashoned afresh by one who was wholly man and at the same time God."
These words seem strange and theological to modern Christian ears, but they break through the sentimentality of so much of our seasonal celebrations to underline the fact that God's love for you and me was so great that it led him to alter the very fabric of heaven and earth to accomplish our "fashoning afresh" into his own image. Understood through the mind of this holy man, the assurance of John 3:16 that "so God loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..." takes on a deeper and more mysterious meaning , and calls us to examine our lives with profound intensity during this Advent and Christmastide.
What does it mean to be "fashoned afresh?" Clement of Alexandria says that he "forgives our sins and educates us to be free from sin." (Christ the Educator I.3.7) Hilary of Poitiers says that " he gives us confidence that a lower nature can be born into a higher condition." (On The Trinity 9.4) Cyril of Alexandria says that "He opened up the way for human nature to incorruption and despoiled hell, taking pity on the souls who were imprisoned there." (First Letter to Succensus 9)
In our preparations to celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world, we might all ask the questions raised by these Fathers of the Church. Am I a new creature in Jesus Christ? Has my relationship with him caused me to be transformed into one whose life is more filled with love, and discipline, and understanding, and submission to God's will as revealed in Holy Scripture than it was before I answered his call? Have those bars of sin, and bad habits, and addictions which imprisoned me been broken by him who "despoiled hell" and "opened up the way" for my nature to work toward incorruption? Can it honestly be said that my life is now illustrative of a "higher condition" of love and respect and obedience and better attitudes than it was before Jesus Christ "fashoned me afresh?"
In this blessed and holy time, might we all honestly ask those questions which will lead us to more perfectly experience the true miracle of Christmas. Might we receive with joy and humility this great gift that God the Father gave to us all when he altered the very fabric of heaven and earth to accomplish our salvation.
Blessed Advent and Happy Christmas to us all.
Bill+
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