The Cathedral Close

On the Sunday Next Before Advent, we began a new Sunday study I have tentatively called “Approaching the Incarnation.” Amid the incredible noise of the commercial “holiday season”, we do well to step back into the quiet of a darkened hillside and contemplate the enormity of the coming Feast of the Incarnation. As God breaks into the world, we should be humbled and brought to our knees by his very purpose in doing so.

In On the Incarnation, our main Advent study text, St. Athanasius succinctly gives us the real news of Advent: “The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him”  What a powerful thing to contemplate this Advent!  Our Lord came to put Himself at our disposal as the ones who need him most.

The saint goes on to say that the result is that,  “The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension – above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.”  Will we spend another Advent season oblivious to that total penetration of the world by the knowledge of God, and, instead, squander these weeks with the mundane, the banal or the material?

Truly, Advent is a time to understand that we have an Incarnate, living Jesus.  Truly, ours is a “…Savior [who] is working mightily among men, every day He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world, …to accept His faith and be obedient to His teaching. Can anyone, in face of this, still doubt that He has risen and lives, or rather that He is Himself the Life? Does a dead man prick the consciences of men, so that they throw all the traditions of their fathers to the winds and bow down before the teaching of Christ?”

So, today, in addition to the Angelus, let us offer a Prayer of Thanks for the Incarnation

Jesus, You came to earth from heaven to take on flesh and dwell among us. You became the supreme example of God in the flesh, pouring out Your grace upon grace. In Your humanness You were victorious in the raging battle against the spiritual forces of evil when faced with temptations and trials common to all people. We stand in glorious victory as we follow Your example and hold to Your unchanging truths. We come alongside those who are grieving loss and enduring heartache in the midst of this glorious season, for it is in keeping with the season of giving, that we give ourselves in faithful prayer toward these in grief. It is in the loving name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. 

Texts for St. Alban’s Advent Study: Main-On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius; Supplemental-Living Jesus, Luke Timothy Johnson.