Christ: In the Flesh

I am blessed to have an awesome internship in the same city as my college, which means that I get to stay here over the summer and continue with it. Hurray! One cool aspect of the job is that I frequently get to read the writings of the Popes, particularly of Pope Francis.

As I was skimming through Pope Francis’ most recent encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium, in hopes of finding a quote to use with one of the magazine articles I was copyediting, I stumbled across this gem: “God’s word teaches that our brothers and sisters are the prolongation of the incarnation for each of us: ‘As you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40).”

This is a profound idea—that each person I meet is Christ. Because that’s what Pope Francis means when he says that each one is “the prolongation of the incarnation.” The Pope really isn’t saying anything new, because the Church has always taught that each person is made in the image and likeness of God, but the way that he says this made me stop and think about the idea more fully.

When I desire to experience Christ physically present, my first instinct is to go to the Eucharist, since God has truly shown me that He is present within that tiny host. But if each person that I meet is “the prolongation of the incarnation,” then Christ is also physically present in each human being. Each person shows me Christ in the flesh, in his or her own flesh. That’s what incarnation means.

Like I said before, the teaching that God lives in each person is not a new idea for me or for the Church, but it is one that I am only now beginning to let impact my life. It means that if I want to love Christ, I must love the person right in front of me. I must be convicted that each person is Christ. And I have to act appropriately towards them—with an abundance of love and respect. No person is too small, too poor, too beautiful, too sick, too smart, too talkative, or too anything else for me to love them, since they are Christ.

But I fail at this all the time. So Pope Francis’ words are a challenge for me, a challenge to live out a deeper and more radical love of Christ by loving each person I meet. They are a challenge to seek the face of Christ in every single human being. It’s like a giant “Where’s Waldo?” game. Only with God.

Expression of the Father

“The word which God speaks to us in Jesus is not simply one word among many, but his eternal Word.”  - Lumen Fidei, 15

As Christmas rapidly approaches, here are a few thoughts about what it means that the Word of God was made flesh. My hope is that reading this will prepare your hearts and minds a little bit more to receive Him when He comes.

First things first: what is a word? Merriam-Webster says that a word is “a sound or combination of sounds that has a meaning and is spoken or written.” A word is a way that we communicate an idea, usually through sounds. But there is also a visual element to a word as well. It can be written on a piece of paper. Or in the case of a deaf person, a word can be signed.

As you are reading the words that I have written here, hopefully the ideas that I have in my brain are taking shape in your brain. This is what words do. They express ideas or concepts. A simpler example would be the word “cup.” When you see “cup” you might picture something like this:

or maybe this: 

or even this:

The point is that when you see or hear the word cup, it brings to your mind the basic concept of what a cup is and what it does. Words express ideas.

In the same way, Christ, as the Word of God, is an expression of the Father. At the same time, He both expresses God and is God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). God our Creator, wishing to communicate and express Himself to us, sent Christ to make Himself known. God speaks to us through Christ.

But was it so important that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”? (John 1:14) We finite human beings are incapable of fully comprehending an infinite and divine Being. (If this blog post isn’t enough evidence of that, I don’t know what is.) So the Word took on human flesh and a nature that we can understand, because it is just like ours. At the same time, “the Word was God” (John 1:1). He remained fully divine. By speaking to us in human words and human actions, but with divine authority, Christ revealed who the Father was and showed God’s great love for each of us.

What great love it was for the Word, the Second person of the Trinity, to become man so that we might understand a little bit about God! It is like a very intelligent father bending down to explain to his four-year-old son, in the simplest of terms, what quantum physics consists of.