The Nativity

"On this Saturday, I invite you to contemplate this bit of wisdom from St.Ambrose of Milan: 'He took what is mine in order that He might impart to me what is His. He took it not to overturn it but to fill it.' If we are to ever escape the constant and consistent gravitational pull of mediocrity and pride, we will have to come to grips with the reality that God became flesh for our sake.

Stop. Take a moment. When you enter the sanctuary of your church, look around. Does it make visible the reality of the enfleshing of God? Is your life filled with constant reminders that God has become flesh? Do you believe in the Incarnation of God to the point that it changes your behavior toward others, toward God, even toward yourself.

This Christmas season is given to us to contemplate that very reality and to go further; to also contemplate the twin reality of the Incarnation, the enfleshing of God - We are called to be "engodded" as He is enfleshed.

Perhaps the times for excuses and half-measures are over in your life. Perhaps it's time to throw off the mundane and mediocre and actually stand in the face of the glory of the Manger and deal with the implications of that creation-changing event. Perhaps it's time to re-christianize Christmas in your life.

Just a thought. Do with it what you will." - Fr. Barnabas Powell