Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Eating Peaches

Home
Catholic
Advent and the Incarnation When Words Fail

Advent and the Incarnation When Words Fail

Last updated on: December 6, 2018 at 11:06 am by Marina S. Brungardt

Advent and the Incarnation When Words Fail 2018-12-06T11:06:09-07:00 Marina S. Brungardt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image via pexels.com

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

In in these words, St. John encapsulates the wonder that is the Incarnation: the union of the Divine with His creation. As our liturgy draws us closer to the celebration of this wondrous event, it’s not surprising that the Incarnation and Incarnational theology take center stage during the Advent season. It’s hard not to ask ourselves: what does it really mean to say God became Man?

The problem with asking that question is that, as the holiest, most intelligent, and most contemplative of the saints know far too well, after we have said all we might possibly say on the subject, the Incarnation has far too much of reality about it for us to even begin to comprehend what God did when the Logos united a human nature to His Divine Person.

So what is faith supposed to be in this realm where words themselves fall silent in the overwhelming presence of the Word Himself?

It seems wrong to fall back on emotion—the stirring up within ourselves in the face of this piercing truth—because this truth is more solid than our ability to grasp it can ever be. It seems an even greater travesty to turn to sentimentality—if only because sentimentality is perhaps best characterized as a “degraded feeling—emotional schmaltz and artistic schlock,” to borrow the philosopher Eva Brann’s description.

So how ought a Catholic to respond to the truth of the Incarnation?

The symbolism of the Advent season offers us insight here: a single lit candle illuminating the darkness. The reality itself of the Incarnation, God became Man, is both the beginning and the end of our contemplation—the truth that resounds where our minds fall dark.

And yet, even in the darkness of our failed comprehension, some bit of the reality seems to spark into our minds. For,

There is in God, some say,
A deep but dazzling darkness, as men here
Say it is late and dusky, because they
See not all clear.

In Advent we are invited to contemplate what is incomprehensible: the union of a Divine and Human nature in the Person of the Word made Flesh. Our contemplation necessarily reaches what the theologians of old called the “vía negativa,” where we can only stammer that the reality of God is so much more real than what is dreamed up in our philosophies that our tongues fall silent in the face of it.

And, in that silent stillness, we perhaps begin to taste a hint of the wondrous love that would lead God to break bread with His creation.

The Reality Superelevating Things

Incarnational theology

Previous Post

June 14, 2017

St. Anthony, Lost Faith, and How to Find It

Next Post

December 6, 2018 Saint Nicholas of Myra

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Body Problems Fatherhood Feast Day Friendship Grace Building on Nature Holy Days and Liturgy Living Life in Christ Love and Marriage and Other Responsibilities Mary Motherhood Philosophic Wanderings Podcasts Reality of Things Saint of the Day The Beautiful The Good The Habit of Being In The Polis The Reality Superelevating Things The True Transcendentals Transcendentals Trinity Uncategorized Virtue

Select a Month December 2018 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Like a sheep led to slaughter, silent before shearers, this servant was pierced for our transgressions. What chapter foretells this suffering?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Isaiah 7 Isaiah 53 Isaiah 9 Isaiah 61