> Father Vanderbilj : Good stuff.I hope you put something in about the
fiat of Our Lady making all of this possible. For many of us , this
'conscious action ofthe will' (as Acquinas would say) shows the
imperative of our co-operating with the Almighty in all aspects of
spiritual (and temporal) life. Blessings. GDVW+                         
                                                                        
                              This is taken from a letter by Leo the
Great, written to Flavian, Bishop
> of
> Constantinople, in the year of our Lord 449.  It concerns the mystery of
> the
> Incarnation, which is the keynote of today's noon time Holy Eucharist
> Service.
>
> Lowliness is assured by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity.
> To pay the debt of our sinful state, a nature that is incapable of
> suffering
> was joined to one that could suffer.  Thus, in keeping with the healing
> that
> we needed, one and the same Mediator between God and humankind, Jesus
> Christ, Himself human (1 Timothy 2:5), was able to die in one nature, and
> unable to die in the other.
>
> He Who was true God was therefore born in the complete and perfect nature
> of
> a true human being, whole in His own nature, whole in ours.  By our nature
> we mean what the Creator had fashioned in us from the beginning, and took
> to
> Himself in order to restore it.
>
> For in the Saviour there was no trace of what the deceiver introduced and
> humankind, being misled, allowed to enter.  It does not follow that
> because
> He submitted to sharing in our human weakness He therefore shared in our
> sins.
>
> He took the nature of a servant without stain of sin, enlarging our
> humanity
> without diminishing His Divinity.  He emptied Himself (Philippians 2:7);
> though invisible He made Himself visible, though Creator and Lord of all
> things He chose to be one of us mortals.  Yet this was the bowing-down in
> compassion, not the loss of omnipotence.  So He Who in the nature of God
> had
> created humankind, became in the nature of a servant, a human being
> Himself.
>
> Thus the Son of God enters this lowly world.  He comes down from the
> throne
> of heaven, yet does not separate Himself from the Father's glory.  He is
> born in a new condition, by a new birth.
>
> He was born in a new condition, for, invisible in his Own nature, He
> became
> visible in ours.  Beyond our grasp, He chose to come within our grasp.
> Existing before time began, He began to exist at a moment in time.  Lord
> of
> the universe, He hid His infinite glory and took the nature of a servant.
> Incapable of suffering as God, He did not refuse to be a human being
> capable
> of suffering.  Immortal, He chose to be subject to the laws of death.
>
> He Who is true God is also a true human being.  There is no falsehood in
> this unity as long as the lowliness of humanity and the preeminence of God
> coexist in mutual relationship.
>
> As God does not change by His bowing down, so human nature is not
> swallowed
> up by being exalted.  Each nature exercises its own activity, in communion
> with the other.  The Word does what is proper to the Word, and flesh
> fulfills what is proper to the flesh.
>
> One nature is resplendent with miracles, the other falls victim to
> injuries.
> As the Word does not lose equality with the Father's glory, so the flesh
> does not leave behind the nature of our race.
>
> One and the same Person - this must be said over and over again - is truly
> the Son of God and truly the child of humanity.  He is God in virtue of
> the
> fact that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
> the
> Word was God (John 1:1).  He is human in virtue of the fact that the Word
> was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
>
> Leo the Great, Epistola 28 ad Flavianum, 3-4.
>
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