Wednesday, February
1, 2017
Over the past few days we’ve
been reflecting on how Jesus Christ is the connecting link between our human
condition and His divine glory. Today I’d like to share with you some eloquent
propositions by Saint Gregory Nanzianzan (c. 330-390). Each proposition has two
parts; the first speaks of Christ sharing our human condition and the second
demonstrates what Christ in His Divinity does for us.
“As a man he was baptized, but
as God he washed away our sins.
As a man he was tempted, but as
God he triumphed, and he exorts us to be confident ecause he has ‘overcome the
world’ (John 6:51)
He was hungry, but he fed
thousands and he is ‘the living bread which came down from heaven’ (John 6:51).
He was thirsty, but he cried, ‘If
any one thirst, let him come to me and drink,” and he promised that believers
should become springs of living water. (John 7:37ff)
He knew weariness, but he is
rest for ‘all who labor and are heavy laden’ (Matthew 11:28)
He prays, but he answers prayer.
He weeps, but wipes away tears.
He asks where Lazarus has been
laid, for he is man; but he raised him to life, for he is God.
He is sold, dirt cheap, for
thirty pieces of silver, but he redeems the world, at great cost, with his own
blood.
He was weak and wounded, but he
cures all infirmity and all weakness.
He was nailed to the wood and
lifted up, but he restores us by the tree of life.
He dies, but he brings to life,
and by his own death destroys death.
He is buried, but he rises
again.
He descends into hell, but
rescues the souls imprisoned there.
Third Theological Oration in The
Roots of Christian Mysticism, Clément, p. 43
God bless you!
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