DAY 3

The Incarnation of the Son

Scripture Readings

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 72:7, 12, 16-17
John 1:1-14

From the Latin tradition

For all things were made out of nothing, and their being would again sink into nothing, if the Author of all things did not hold it by the hand of governance.

  • Gregory the Great [c. 540-604], Moralia in Job, XVI:37, 45

Patristic Reading

From the Armenian tradition

He took upon himself all human passions, excluding sin. That is: he hungered who gives food to all the living. He thirsted who gives the water of life to his believers. He felt weariness who is the rest of the weary. He slept who always kept Israel vigilant. He wept who wiped away every tear from all eyes … He took on our passible body, so that he who is impassible might suffer with the passible body and he who is immortal might die with the mortal body, to free us who are guilty.

– Gregory of Skevra [12th/13th centuries], On True Faith and Pure Conduct in the Virtues, 15-17

For reflection:

  1. How does faith in Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, inspire and shape our lives?
  2. How have you experienced Christ’s consoling presence in your life?
  3. Wherever we see someone who is thirsty, hungry, weeping or suffering, Christ is present.
  4. How is Christ incarnate in the work of the churches of Canada in 2025?

Prayer

R:   Glory to you, O Christ. Glory to you!

Word of God, you became flesh, and came to dwell among us. You have shared our life in all things; you died as we all die. R/

Son of David, desired by the righteous and the prophets, you have proclaimed the good news to the poor; you have proclaimed the Lord’s time of favour. R/

You came to break the chains of bondage; you went about doing good;

you have opened the way to the presence of God for all. R/

You came into the world in weakness and poverty; you

have confounded the proud with your humility; you have drawn the weary and overburdened to you. R/

You are the Lamb of God and our Shepherd, the Servant of God and our Lord:

you were made sin for us, our Redeemer. R/

Let us pray:

Lord God, our Father draw our eyes to you

so that together we may walk

from darkness to the light of your face, revealed to us in Jesus, your Son and our brother, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit now and for ever and ever. AMEN.

Alternative Patristic Readings

From the Syriac tradition

Now that the highest and lowest creatures have become one, there is no longer high and low. God has even appeared on earth and our [human] nature has ascended to heaven. When God came down to us, the earth became heaven, and when the Son of our kind was raised up, heaven became earth. Then heaven and earth became one.

– Abdisho bar Bahriz [9th century], Commentary on the Celebrations of the Church, p. 58

From the Greek tradition

This is the grace of the Lord, and these are the Lord’s means of restoration for the sons of men. For he suffered to prepare freedom from suffering for those who suffer in him. He descended, so that he might raise us up. He experienced being conceived, so that we would love who is not generated. He went down to corruption, so that corruption might put on immortality. He became weak for us, so that we might rise with power. He descended to death, so that he might bestow on us immortality and give life to the dead. Finally, he became human, so that we who die as human beings might live again, and death should no more reign over us. – Athanasius of Alexandria [c. 295-373], Festal Letters, 10:8, 19