Ashland, Oregon
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 12, 2014
Dear Members and friends of Trinity,
Christmas will soon be upon us, when the “Word took flesh,
and pitched his tent among us” (John 1:14).
God made flesh as a helpless baby
implies potential holiness in simply being a human being, a sacredness to all
of life and all it means to be human.
You don’t have to be “churchy” to be holy, nor “religious” to be “spiritual.” You don’t even have to be “spiritual” to be spiritual!
2 Peter 1:4 says that Christ’s divine power was manifested
to us so that we might become “…partakers of the divine nature.” Saint Athanasius of Alexandria said, “God
became man, that we might become god, … becoming by grace what God is by
nature.”
God made flesh makes the common holy, eventually turning
death on the cross into life, alienation into reconciliation. When we offer the Bread and the Wine at Eucharist
as “God’s Holy Gifts for God’s Holy People,” we are saying that God is making
us holy, making us saints, is making us god—despite ourselves, despite
appearances, and despite how harshly we may judge ourselves. Christ’s incarnation makes the common holy:
ordinary bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ; we ordinary people,
Christ’s body in the world.
Let me wish you and your loved ones every grace and peace
during this season, with prayers for reconciliation for all. Together with the angels at Christ’s birth, I
pray that there be fullness of life on earth, because we human beings enjoy God’s
grace.
With love and blessing,
Fr. Tony+
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