The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-06-26

accepted the invitation of the angel to |
become the Mother of God.
And If His divine Nature was per-
feet, the human nature which He as
sumed was equally so. Christ, as man,
was truly man. He possessed a two
fold knowledge, human and divine,
He had twofold will, the human sub
| ject to the divine. His activity was
also both human and divine. In
word, His human nature did not
merge into the divine. 1t was dis
tinct and perfect in itself, like our
own, with one exception, that he could
neither sin nor err. Because of the
intimate union of the two natures.
His human actions were of divine and
infinite value, and for the same reason
His humanity was worthy of real
alteration.
There was but one Person in Jesus
Christ. Though he was human in ma
ture as well as divine He was in no
way human in personality. 1t is to the
personality of man that we attribute
everything he does, and it is to the
divine Personality in Jesus Christ
that we attribute all His actions, those
that refer to His human nature as
we'll as those that pertain to His di-
vine nature. Thus it is that human
attributes are predicated of Christ as
God. st. Paul says, sThe Author of
life you have killed." And ST. John
writes, Therein do we know the love
of God, that He laid down His life
for us" The divine Person who was
at the same time God and man had
the attributes proper to God and man.
| Because the divine and human ma
lures in Christ, though distinct, were
inseparably united by His divine per-
sonality, we declare that Mary, the
Mother of Christ, was really the
Mother of God. 1t is evident that she
could not have been the mother of
the Godhead or divine nature, but
just as we say woman is the mother
of her child, though she does not
give the soul to her offspring, so Mary
was really the Mother of God, though
she did not give Christ His divine
nature.
The Incarnation of the Son of God
is great mystery which we cannot
hope to understand. 1t surpasses the
powers of our human minds. It is to
be loved and admired rather than
questioned or discussed. "Shut thy
eyes, o Reason" says st. Bernard,
''for under the veil of faith thou canst
see the sheen of the mystery. just as
the eye of the body can bear the light
of the sun, when shaded by cloud. ;"
81 know that the Son of God became
man, but / do not know how" writes
st. John Chrysostom.
The Incarnation was a wonderful
manifestation of Gods love of us. Its
explanation is found in the one word,
love. It's awful significance is summed
up in the one word, love. Christ
would not only offer complete and
adequate satisfaction to the offended
justice of His Father, He would select
a manner of satisfying which would
bring sinful human nature into the
closest possible relation with the di-
/ vine. He took upon Himself our poor
nature that we might be redeemed.
He elevated us to the position of
adopted sons of God. Our whole duty
in life is to take upon ourselves, in
so far as we may, His divine nature,
by uniting ourselves to Him in the
wonderful Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist We must "put on Christ
The purpose of the Incarnation was to
4 bring God down to us, that we might
lift ourselves up to Him. AS the
branches are to the vine, so must we
be united to Christ if we are to profit
by the Incarnation of Gods Son.