You are God’s Seed

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 mine is the body of God because of the incarnation.’ The mystic Meister Eckhart preached, “you are God’s seed. As the pear seed  grows into the pear tree and hazel see becomes the hazel tree, so does God seed become God’. And Saint Theresa made the well-known affirmation, ‘Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands now but yours; no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which Christ shines his compassion to the world; yours are the feet through which he is to go about doing good; yours are the hands to which he is to bless his people now.’

Gone forever is the dualism that would see our time on earth as a brief testing time of punishment in an alien place until our escape home to heaven. 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 more 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 sufferings, ugliness and desolation as well as by its joys, beauty and integrity. In Christ our humanity has undergone transformation. This transformation is not something added on to our nature-a divine layer on top of our humanity. It is rather the revelation of the intrinsic meaning of our lives. We are God’s dream coming true. We are God’s delight. God rejoices in our humanity and God is the energy behind every heartbeat of our lives.

Another way of putting this is to discern the activity of grace within our souls. At our very centre is the address of the Holy Spirit. God has taken up residence in our innermost place. . .  One could say nothing is outside of each of God. Even before we begin to be present to others and to the world, we are already held in God’s embrace.

(Passion for the Possible pp18,19)