1/15/2023

We just came through the season of Advent/Christmas, the time when we meditate on the incarnation: the Second Person of the Trinity becoming human. Now as we enter into the Ordinary time for about six weeks, we will be seeing the consequences of the incarnation.
When Christ became incarnate, He suffered, died, rose, ascended into Heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to found a Church. The incarnation continues in God’s Church. Now, the Church really is the people of God united in Christ’s Spirit, but not just souls – there is a physical dimension to it. When God became man, He became incarnate. He became flesh and what He left us was a Church which has a dimension which is in the flesh. That Church wrestles with the insufficiencies and the limitations of the flesh while still trying to be transformed by the Spirit as it goes through history incarnate, seeking to transform institutions, society, humanity. The incarnation didn’t just happen for 33 years. It came in the year zero and it’s still going on in 2022. The church is the Body of Christ animated by the Holy Spirit. The church is the continuation of Jesus Christ in the world. He is gone, but He’s here in mystery through signs. The source of unity (the Holy Spirit) is invisible, but His church exists and is manifested in signs (like sacraments) and physical institutions. We need a Church which is both physical and spiritual because humans are both physical and spiritual. When we pray, we pray with our spirits and our bodies. The Church calls us from our fallen state to a more exalted one. In that sense, the Church’s job is to make us feel uncomfortable in our material existence, move us to strive to live “in the Spirit” and show it in material action. The church is not perfect. The part of the Church which carries along “the flesh,” i.e. our fallen-ness, needs to be reformed, to be called to greatness. But also not deny that it’s Christ’s presence among us.
Besides being the main channel of holiness and grace for humanity (especially through the sacraments), the Church holds us together, maintaining continuity with the past and moving forward into the future, keeping Tradition alive and interpreting the Bible in light of Tradition. It also keeps alive the memory of past heroes (saints) and inspires holiness of current saints. Tradition is the ability to read the Bible and understand what it’s really about. We believe that the Holy Spirit is with us and enlightens us and enables us to interpret the Bible [the] way Christ would. The Church’s job is to keep tradition alive so, that we can interpret the Bible authentically. As you know, people can go off on their own individually or in small groups and interpret the Bible diversely. In Catholicism, we look at what great men and women (including Popes) have said in the past, and we say, “now can we say this or is this contradictory to our tradition?” With the tradition of the Holy Spirit being active through the centuries, with confidence of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can go forward. That’s one of the great gifts Christ gave to his Church. We are less likely to splinter over disagreements and more likely to say, ‘Okay, the Pope has said this, and so we’re going to follow it.’ That doesn’t always happen, but we’re more likely to go through history as a community united and not as individuals or small groups because we are members of the Church – one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic.
So that is my musing on the incarnation leading to the Church. We are beneficiaries of a great gift. Now we go to walk with Christ through the Gospel of Matthew this year, walking together in the Spirit He gave us. It is a joy to be walking with you.

Father Albert, O.S.B