Where, then, shall we begin? Begin with the heart. Any effort to grow that by-passes the heart is in danger of losing its way. To try to circumnavigate the heart is not the way of incarnation. To search for God apart from the centre of human emotion is to seriously misunderstand what little we know of the Christian mystery. To place God’s heart over against the human heart is to get it wrong from the […]
Whenever I introduce people from different ends of the planet to each other, I am often struck by the fact that within minutes they have focused in on at least one person they know in common. A little reflection has clarified the situation. Bottom Line researchers have established that the vast majority of people in the world are linked by no more than two intermediaries. They have also concluded that two of the most isolated […]
The incarnation has revealed what true humanity is, to be realised not by running away from the world or turning our backs on it in indifference and fear. Christ does not reveal what it is to be divine but what it is to be human. That our God-likeness might become complete is the purpose of creation. And the way to human fulfilment is to penetrate right to the heart of the world, in all its […]
Fom the very beginning 14 billion years ago, the world was already permeated and filled with God’s compassionate presence. There never was a time or space in the history of evolution when God was absent from the world. In the person of Christ this tremendous love story has finally been revealed. The human is now the home of the divine. The redemption has happened. Salvation has taken place. What was begun in creation is completed […]
A rediscovery of incarnation theology reminds us of the inseparable unity between God and us. It reminds us to that without our commitment there will always be something forever incomplete about the redemption of the world. Jesus is unambiguous about this when he refers to those who fail to recognise the divinity of the poor and needy, the loveless and the marginalised. Saint Symeon wrote, ‘these hands of mine are the hands of God; this body of […]
The poets and artists are never tired of playing with this fascinating theme. Unlike many of the official teachers of religion, they have never lost the sense of wonder at the mystery of the indwelling of God in creation. For them, the smallest particle of creation becomes a window on God’s beauty. Their intense energy is spent on revealing ‘the dearest freshness that lives deep down things’. They see ‘his blood upon the rose and […]