Chapter 2: The Mystery of the Incarnate Word

 

Article 1: His First Coming
11 And the Word became flesh (Jn 1:14). The work of the Incarnation is common to the three divine persons, but it is attributed to the Holy Spirit because:

1. Its cause is the maximal love of God: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (Jn 3:16).

2. Human nature was not assumed by proper merit, but only by grace, which is attributed to the Holy Spirit: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit (1 Cor 12:4).

3. Jesus Christ alone is Holy and the only Son of God: the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God (Lk 1:35); and because in Him we are made children of God: because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6); in Him we are sanctified, since He is the Spirit of holiness (Rom 1:4).

12 Based on the mystery of the Incarnation – the work of the Spirit in the Virgin Mary – we must always sing the mercies of God[22] because “the immortality of blessedness becomes credible from the Incarnation of the Son of God.”[23] We must understand clearly that without Jesus Christ we can do nothing[24] and that with all our strength we must always be inclined to grow in virtue.

13 Therefore, we must be moved by the Holy Spirit with utter docility to Him. To obtain this we need:

14 a) Attention to the Holy Spirit’s inspirations as the Virgin, who because of her habitual attentiveness to the motions of the Spirit was worthy to be visited by the Angel Gabriel[25] and to listen to him. Therefore, it is necessary to work against habitual dissipation, lack of mortification and disordered affections.

15 b) Discernment of spirits in order to accept and follow the motions of the Holy Spirit, and to reject those of the evil spirit, being very prudent, in imitation of the Virgin who considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be (Lk 1:29).

16 c) Docility and readiness in the execution of the Holy Spirit’s requests, as the Virgin who arose and went with haste (Lk 1:39). “Indecision is foreign to the grace of the Holy Spirit.”[26] We must always work against the temptation of delaying, against the fear to sacrifice and total surrender, and against the temptation of recovering what we have given, looking for compensation or settling down to “build”[27] on things that are not of God.

17 Being in tune with the Holy Spirit must move us to live the Beatitudes, to let us be led by the action of the gifts of the Spirit and to be fertile in producing the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22).

18 We must also consider the “yes” of the Most Holy Virgin: let it be to me according to your word (Lk 1:38). The consent of the Mother of God shows us that she was not “a mere passive instrument, but instead she freely cooperated in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience.”[28] Neither should we be passive instruments.

19 The Virgin gave her “yes” as a servant: I am the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38), He has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid (Lk 1:48), and then the Word took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7) in her pure womb. Therefore, our spirituality needs to be marked in a special way by professing a fourth vow of Marian slavery according to the spirit of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, so as to “marianize” all our life. When we reach the chapter that speaks about vows we will discuss our Marian spirituality further.

a. The divinity of Jesus
20 The confession of Saint Peter has always been central in the Catholic faith: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:16). This confession has to be central in our spirituality too. As taught by the current successor of Peter, “We are only redeemed if Jesus Christ can in his own person fully communicate the divine life.”[29] At another time the same Pope said that when professing Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:9)[30] “We break with everything that claims to set itself up as an absolute, and we destroy the idols of money, power, sex, and those that are hidden in ideologies, ‘lay religions’ with totalitarian ambitions.”[31]

21 He is the “Way” to go to the Father and nobody goes to the Father but through Him.[32] He has the only name by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). He is the one that makes the Church a “sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men.”[33] He is the one that sustains all the dogmas of the Church since He is “the truth that contains all the others.”[34] He is the one that shows us the primacy and weight of eternity above all temporal reality.

22 In addition, professing the divinity of Jesus Christ must move us to the practice of the virtues of transcendence: faith, hope, and charity; and from these, to the urgency of prayer and incessant contemplation, and to the consciousness of the necessity of active and passive purifications of the senses and of the spirit.

23 Contemplating that the Incarnate Word is “God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father,”[35] we want to put aside all attitudes of mere humanism (humanism without transcendence) that eventually annihilates man. We want to put aside all attitudes of false kenosis (emptying of oneself) that being based on an excuse of going to the inferior, end up emptying the superior. For example, “to be in the world” one complies with the spirit of the world by emptying oneself and forgetting that Christians are in the world but not of the world (Jn 17:16). Because “falling away from God altogether, [man] should cease to exist. For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.”[36]

b. The humanity of Jesus
24 Saint John the Baptist foretold Jesus: After me comes a man (Jn 1:30); Saint Peter denied Jesus before the servant girl: I do not know the man (Mt 26:72); and Pilate presented him to the crowd: Ecce homo (Behold the man) (Jn 19:5). We profess that Jesus is not only God, but also true man, as the centurion did: Truly this man was the Son of God (Mk 15:39).

25 Becoming man is “the first and fundamental mystery of Jesus Christ.”[37] “God had never been so close to man – and never had man been so close to God – as in that precise moment: in the instant of the Incarnation mystery!”[38]

26 The Word, that not only expresses the Father, but also expresses the being and the work of all creation,[39] and in a particular way of all men – male or female – “manifests man fully and discovers himself in the sublimity of his vocation,”[40] in such a way that “it is only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word that the mystery of man truly becomes clear.”[41]

27 From this derives, as from its root, one of the main elements of our spirituality, namely the evangelization of the culture, by which nothing genuinely human is alien to us in the work of prolonging the Incarnation to all reality: “no human activity is foreign to the Gospel.”[42]

28 For us Christ is mysteriously identified with each man. Each and every man can be comprehended only in Jesus Christ: “it was necessary for mankind that God became man in order to demonstrate the dignity of human nature to mankind.”[43]

On judgment day he will say: for I was hungry and you gave me food... (Mt 25:35).

The poor are Christ: “they represent the role of the Son of God.”[44]

The pilgrims are Christ: “let all guests who arrive be received like Christ.”[45]

The children are Christ: the one that receives them “receives me” (Mt 18:5)

In every man “Jesus is hidden in the depths of his soul.”[46] Saint Augustine said: “in Him we are christs and Christ.”[47]

29 Being true that all Christians have imitate of the Incarnate God, then it is even more true for us, religious of the Family of the Incarnate Word. We are not only to live out the life of Christ looking for God in everything, but to spread the life of Christ to others, and to endow the cultures of man with the life of Christ in order to elevate him: “by his ignorance of the worthiness of his nature, man is misled into clinging to things less than God in nature as to an end.”[48]

30 This mysterious and joyful reality of being “other Christs” (central to our spirituality) makes Saint Paul invent words to express it: conmortui (2 Tm 2:11), consepulti (Rom 6:14), conresuscitati (Eph 2:6), convivificati (Eph 2:5), complantati (Rom 6:5), convivemus (2 Tm 2:11), consedere (Eph 2:6) ... bringing him to exclaim: it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20). Also Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity said so very beautifully that we should be “like a new incarnation of the Word”, “like another humanity of Christ,” so that the Father may only see “his beloved Son” [49] in us.

31 In principle, we are already Christ by Baptism, but it is our task to be Christ in the fullest sense, dying and living, as Saint Paul says: you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:11), and as Saint Peter says: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pt 2:24).

32 Dying:

1. to sin and to the works of the flesh since in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (Eph 1:7); those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal 5:24);

2. to the pain of sin, that is to say, to the evil world: I have overcome the world (Jn 16:33), because before we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe (Gal 4:3); and to hell because at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil 2:10);

3. to the fear of death since the Son of God has become flesh to deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage (Heb 2:15);

4. to the power of the devil for the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8);

5. to the slavery of the old law: He redeemed us from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13).

33 Living:

- the life of grace in its fullness since Christ has come in flesh to bring us life and life in abundance.[50] This life is the grace of God that makes us partakers of the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). It is the supernatural life of the theological virtues, of the infused moral virtues and of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

- the prophetic life by which we participate in “Christ’s prophetic office,”[51] giving testimony of faith and charity, offering to God a sacrifice of praise, proclaiming the Word whether convenient or inconvenient,[52] in preaching, teaching, writing, doing research, in evangelization, in catechesis, etc.

- the priestly life – both the common priesthood derived from baptism, and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood (essentially and not gradually different from the common priesthood).[53]

34

- In addition, we have to live the life of mastery, which means dominion over oneself: in the measure that man triumphs over sin, he dominates the incentives of the flesh, and governs his soul and body. The religious, in the measure in which he subjects his soul completely to God, comes to a situation of indifference and detachment from the things of the world, which doesn’t mean powerlessness but on the contrary, a dominant and free will, able to be devoted to things of the world without being dominated by them.

35 Life of mastery includes dominion over people: in the measure that the religious generously surrenders to the service of Jesus Christ – the only King that deserves to be served – he acquires an effective, though spiritual, royalty over men, even over those who have power and authority, and even over those who abuse it. This dominion is because the religious takes the burden of their sin and their hardships upon himself, by a humble and helpful love that comes because of his self-sacrifice.

36 Life of mastery also includes dominion over the world:

- By collaborating with the world of creation by work, and with the world of redemption by the apostolate. In order that this royalty may be effective there needs to be a dedication to things, along with detachment from and indifference to these same things: From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away (1 Cor 7:29-31).

- By leaving the world behind, be it for fidelity to the same world – a means and not an end – or by fidelity to God, resisting concupiscence, temptations, and sins of the world; by being independent before the maxims, jeers and persecutions of the world, depending only on our good conscience illuminated by faith, ready for martyrdom – the full and total rejection of the evil world – for fidelity to God.

37 The highest grace that God can grant our minuscule religious family is persecution[54] especially that persecution that leads to martyrdom. “Jesus Christ always lives in order to give us the strength to support all the hardships for his love. The works of God are always under attack so that the Divine Magnificence may shine forth.”[55] We must always remember that for persecution to be blessed, it must fulfill two requirements. First, that we may be “persecuted for the sake of Christ.” Secondly, that what is said against us is false.[56] We must be very careful not to return to our burdens, nor to spend time taking pleasure in them, nor to fall into “that self-complacency of Lucifer which makes you imagine you are somebody,”[57] and that we are suffering a great deal. “[Our] pride and sensitiveness make [us] magnify splinters into planks, scratches into wounds, molehills into mountains.”[58]

38 Dominion over the devil: we need religious who are not only convinced that by the grace of God they have the power to resist the devil, but also are able to exorcise the devil.

39

- living as if resurrected: seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Col 3:1-2); in the freedom of the children of God who are not enslaved

- neither under the elemental spirits of the universe (Gal 4:3);

- nor under the letter that brings death;[59]

- nor under the spirit of the world;[60]

because we must not submit again to the yoke of slavery... (otherwise) Christ would be of no benefit to us.[61]

40 We must be so docile to the Spirit that we could say “My glory is to live as free as a bird in the sky / I don’t make a nest on this earth;” not owing anything to the flesh for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls (1 Pt 1:24) and if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:25), since that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (Jn 3:6).

41 This is to have the spirit of a prince,[62] to guide the soul to great acts... to be concerned about the big things... to carry out great works in all virtue. It is to be noble. And what is it to be noble? It is a feeling not a saying. It is a man of heart. It is a man that has something to give to himself and to others. They are born to lead. They are able to punish themselves and others. They are those who have put style in their behavior. They are those who don’t request freedom but hierarchy. They are those who set laws and fulfill them... They are those who feel honor as life. They can give themselves because they possess themselves. They are those who know in each instant the things for which one must die. Those who are able to give things that no one demands and abstain from things that no one prohibits. They are those who always consider themselves as beginners. Let us always consider ourselves as beginners without ceasing to aspire to a more holy and more perfect life, without ever stopping.

42 Thus, we firmly resolve to reach sanctity. A religious who is not willing to go through the second and third conversions, or who does not do anything concrete to achieve them, though with us in body, does not actually belong to our spiritual family. We must have “a great and very resolute determination to persevere until reaching the end, come what may, happen what may, whatever work is involved, whatever criticism arises, whether they arrive or whether they die on the road, or even if they do not have courage for the trials along it, or if the whole world collapses….”[63] What is important is to take a step, and another step. It is always the same step that begins again.

43 We want, through baptism, the practice of virtues and religious profession – “which is deeply rooted in their baptismal consecration and is a fuller expression of it”[64] – to more closely imitate and to perpetually represent in the Church that form of life that the Son of God made his own when he became flesh.[65]

44 We want to imitate Jesus Christ as perfectly as possible. He teaches us, I have given you an example (Jn 13:15). Saint Paul exhorts, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5). We must be the aroma of Christ (2 Cor 2:15), ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20)... of the mystery of the Gospel (Eph 6:19), letter of Christ (2 Cor 3:3), put on Christ (Gal 3:27), firmly convinced that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29), reproducing Him,[66] becoming similar to Him,[67] configuring ourselves with Him,[68] and knowing that we reflect the same image (2 Cor 3:18) of the only Son of God. We want to imitate him until we can truly say to others, be imitators of me, as I am of Christ (1 Cor 11:1), it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20).

45 That the Word assumed a human nature should move us to practice the virtues of self-humiliation: poverty, pain, obedience, self-denial, mercy, charity to all men.

46 Since the Word became man without ceasing to be God, we must learn how to be in the world[69] “without being of the world.”[70] We must go into the world in order to convert it and not to imitate it; to enter cultures not to convert ourselves into these cultures, but to heal them and to elevate them with the strength of the Gospel, doing as Christ did: “The Son took away the devil’s nature, assumed human nature, and conferred the divine nature.”[71]

47 Christ became like us yet without sin (Heb 4:15). Therefore, sin, error, and all its derivatives are non-assumable. Before baptizing it is necessary to exorcize; without conversion, reconciliation is impossible; without renouncing evil, redemption does not exist. There cannot be unity at the cost of truth. There is no holiness without cleansing the soul: “holiness means cleansing.”[72]

48 Only that which has dignity or necessity can be assumed. Neither that which is inhuman, antihuman, nor infrahuman can be assumed. That which is irrational, absurd and all their derivatives are also non-assumable.

49 Since Christ assumed a complete human nature, nothing genuinely human must be rejected. We must assume all that is human because “that which was not taken was neither redeemed,”[73] and that which is human and is not assumed “becomes a new idol replete with all the old malicious cunning.”[74]

50 Assuming that which is human must not only be apparent, but real. That assumption is only real when it truly transforms that which is human into Christ, elevating it, dignifying it, and perfecting it. What is left merely at the human level has been only assumed apparently.

51 All this applies especially to the evangelization of the culture, which demands from us a spirituality with unusual nuances. “All this demands a new approach of cultures, attitudes, behaviors, aimed at in-depth dialogue with cultural centers and at rendering fruitful their meeting with the message of Christ. This work demands also on the part of responsible Christians a faith illumined by continual reflection confronted with the sources of the Church’s message, and a continual spiritual discernment pursued in prayer.”[75] “True inculturation is from within: it consists, ultimately, in a renewal of life under the influence of grace.”[76]

52 Additionally, we must provide spiritual care to women religious because of their own dignity-of-consecration which makes them “spouses of the Word.” In a particular way, women religious resemble Christ’s human nature which:

- is totally stripped of itself, without having its own personality;

- is united with the Word with an intimate and perfect union;

- is a most docile instrument of the Word;

- has its riches in giving itself totally to the Word.

53 For love of this divine Spouse,[77] the woman religious who truly yearns to be the spouse of the Word must:

- abandon everything: by the three vows she separates all that can obstruct a perfect union with Jesus Christ;

- unite herself with all her strength to the Word: by charity and a stable, firm, and constant fidelity to the will of Jesus Christ: “in the Temple, in the cloister, in the cell, in the dining room, during recreation, [she] must be yearning for Jesus Christ;”[78]

- live for Him and allow herself to be guided by Him: she must be zealous for the honor and glory of the Word, her Spouse, and must be able to say as Saint Paul said it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20);

- conceive from the Word what she will bear for the Word: since by the Holy Spirit all her acts have to be supernatural, fertile, and meritorious.

c. The union of both natures
54 The whole illustrious mystery of the Incarnate Word should be our constant inspiration for our life: “The Father as though uttering Himself, begot the Son, equal in all things to Himself. For he would not have uttered Himself completely and perfectly, if there were anything less or more in His Word than in Himself. Here above all do we recognize ‘yes, yes; no, no’ (Mt 5:37). And therefore, this Word is truly the Truth.”[79]

55 In the Incarnation, the Word anoints with holy unction every cell of the body of Jesus, and his entire soul, both in its essence and faculties. There is nothing in Christ that is not thrice holy, and therefore, infinitely adorable. Everything in Him is transparency, authenticity, sincerity, coherence, and truth: I am... the Truth (Jn 14:6). He is the Amen (Rv 3:14). For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God (2 Cor 1:20), for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 2:9). In Him there is nothing empty, hollow, or not assumed hypostatically; is nothing superficial, feigned or camouflaged; no lie, falsehood, insecurity, hiding, or hypocrisy. He is One Only,[80] the Word, in two distinct natures; both of which are perfect, whole, and hypostatically united.

56 Christ is One without comparison, as Nicholas of Gorran says, “[oneness] is said of Christ in multiple ways:

1. Because of the divine nature there is only one God; henceforth, there is no God except One.

2. He is the only Creator because of his infinite dominion: One is the High one, Creator of all the things (Eccl 1:8).

3. He is unique as man because of the singular eminence of his holiness: there is none that does good (Ps 14:1), it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people (Jn 11:50).

4. He is the only Lord because of the preeminence of government: one Lord, one faith (Eph 4:5). In the same way there is one Lord, Jesus Christ.

5. He is the only Teacher because of the infusion of knowledge: Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ (Mt 23:10).

6. An only Father because of the creation of all things: for you have one Father, who is in heaven (Mt 23:9).

7. An only Shepherd because of the common care of the faithful: So there shall be one flock, one shepherd (Jn 10:16).

8. An only Victim because of the one-time ransom paid for our Redemption: For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Heb 10:14).”[81]

57 We profess our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 4), and that in Him is contained a reference to all creatures. He is the point of meeting and union between the one who comprehends and the pilgrim; the Master[82] and the slave[83]; the century and the moment; the universe and the atom; the from-now-on of salvation and the up-to-now of the promises; the not-yet of what we are waiting for and the already-realized. He is the point of meeting and union of God and man; of the eschatological and the incarnated; of the sidereal distances and the inch. For that reason, nothing escapes Christ: neither space travel, nor the world of electronics and computers; neither the most current science nor the most sophisticated technology; nor recent discoveries, the family, work, culture, politics, economics, etc. Therefore, we want to live the exhortation of Saint Ignatius of Antioch: “Stop your ears, therefore when any one speaks to you at variances with Jesus Christ.”[84]

58 There is one Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Cor 8:6), and therefore we want “to leave no stone unturned so that the love of Christ may have the highest supremacy in the Church and society.”[85]

59 Because Christ is One, we want to work with all our strength to build our life in union with legitimate Shepherds, most especially with a cordial fidelity with the Bishop of Rome, bearing witness to the one Church:

- so that all Christians may arrive at perfect unity, to fulfill the promise and prophecy of the Lord: So there shall be one flock, one shepherd (Jn 10:16); and that his prayer would bear fruit: that they may all be one (Jn 17:21). This is the ecumenical work.

- so that all men may confess the adorable Name of the Lord Jesus, fulfilling his commandment: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation (Mk 16:15). This is the missionary work. We must remember that “it is above all in truth that unity is built: the communion of minds is easily transformed into the union of hearts...”[86]

60 Only in the truth will we be able to live the ineffable reality that Saint John Eudes expresses: “All of his is yours: the Spirit, the heart, the body, and the soul and all their faculties... all that there is in you must be grafted into him... he must be your spirit, your heart, your love, your life, and all of yours.”[87]

61 The two natures of the Incarnate Word, entire and perfect, remind us of the double reality of the created – supernatural and natural – and therefore, of the real distinction between grace and nature, faith and reason, Church and world. These must not be confused, nor be changed, nor be mixed, nor be absorbed, nor be submerged. One must not confuse the human with the divine, which is a kind of blending with which no Christian understanding should be concerned. The two natures move us to the practice of virtues seemingly-opposed, and to the avoidance of all false Gnostic monism, for example, justice vs. love, firmness vs. sweetness, fortitude vs. meekness, holy anger vs. patience, purity vs. great affection, magnanimity vs. humility, prudence vs. courage, joy vs. penance, etc. High sanctity is the eminent union of all the virtues, even the most diverse.

62 Both natures, conserving their properties, are united substantially in the person of the Word, therefore, there is no place for false dualisms nor destructive dialectics that seek to divide, separate, and oppose grace and nature, faith and reason, Church and world. These are realities that must not be destructively opposed, but orderly united. The two natures move us not to compromise either our spiritual life or the pastoral life, not emphasizing any element over another. Avoiding all duality, penetrating all one’s life with the Truth, being “amen” of the “Amen.”[88]

63 It is also necessary to be cautious to never fall into Manichean visions of reality, or into Jansenistic reductionism. We must see to it that the legitimate and just autonomy of the temporal and the spiritual do not degenerate into independence from God: “without a creator there can be no creature.”[89] Atheism is “the most grave phenomenon of our time.”[90]

64 It is certain that it is God who assumes a human nature and not the other way around. And it should be this way in all our life that we should always give primacy to God over the world, to grace over nature, to faith over reason: “in the priority of ethics over technology, in the primacy of the person over things, and in the superiority of the spirit over matter.”[91] Just as the two natures in Christ are ordered, so all reality must be given a hierarchical subordination between the supernatural and natural orders. He is the one who gives us the law that directs the relationship between both orders. It is God who heals and elevates man, not the other way around. It is faith that purifies and perfects reason, not the other way around. It is the Church that cures and saves the world and not the other way around. The inversion of values that affects modern culture is another problem of our time. It is necessary to give more importance to this problem than that which is presently given, and to seek first that which is primary: seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well (Mt 6:33).

65 Neither is the mystery of the Incarnation a mere union of the divine nature with human nature, but rather it is a union of assumption.[92] Any other way of union between God and creature is not sufficient to unite all things in him (Eph 1:10), but, analogous to the mystery of the Incarnation, must be an assumption, i.e., an action and a passion that expresses the fact of becoming and not merely a completed work, and which states the difference between the starting point and the ending point. Likewise it is necessary to “take up” the cultures, purifying them and elevating them, starting from Christ and the Gospel “within the framework of the Church.”[93] A mere union, or a nominal “label” on reality, is not enough to say that reality is truly taken in possession by Christ. “Being in the world” only makes sense for us when it depends on “not being of the world.” This is the only way to be truly salt of the earth and light of the world (Mt 5:13ff), otherwise we would convert ourselves into tasteless salt and into light under a bushel basket.

d. The purpose of the Incarnation
66 The ultimate and absolute purpose of the Incarnation is the glory of God. The mediate purpose is the exaltation and glory of Christ, the redeemer of man. The immediate purpose is the redemption of mankind. With this in mind we always want to look for the glory of God, the ultimate end of the whole universe, in everything and for everything; in a particular way, in the search, investigation, proclamation, and celebration of the truth, because we follow the Word that says: I am the Truth (Jn 14:6), because it is the “Truth…the final end of the whole universe”[94] and for this reason Jesus Christ became man: for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth (Jn 18:37). It is truth that primarily gives undimmed knowledge issuing in praise of God.

67 A particular way of giving glory to God is trusting without limits in his Providence, based on his design of salvation, that manifests itself in a most eminent way in the Incarnation. We must learn how to look at everything as coming from The One who doesn’t even forget a sparrow... and who has counted even the hairs on our head.[95] For that reason Saint Paul teaches that in everything God works for good with those who love him (Rom 8:28). When he says everything, he leaves out nothing. This includes all situations: prosperous or adverse, things concerning the good of the soul, goods of fortune, reputation, all conditions of human life (family, study, talents, etc), all interior states we experience (joys, happiness, privations, dryness, displeasures, tediousness, temptations, etc.), even faults and sins. Everything, absolutely everything. When Saint Paul says works for good, it is understood that they cooperate, contribute, and happen for our spiritual good. It is necessary to have this vision and not that of the flesh or the world. It is necessary to see everything in the light of the loving designs of the Providence of God discovered only by the spiritual man: The spiritual man judges all things (1 Cor 2:15). We must believe with unyielding steadfastness that even the occurrences which are most adverse and opposed to our natural view are arranged by God for our good, even though we don’t understand his designs and we ignore the end to which he wants to bring us. Yet, for our part, we must fulfill a condition for this to happen. This is why he adds those that love Him: those whose will is united and submissive to that of God, who above all strive for the interests and the glory of God, who are willing to sacrifice everything without reservation convinced that nothing is as advantageous as to abandon themselves into the hands of God, in all which He is pleased to order, as Jesus showed us: if any one serves me, the Father will honor him (Jn 12:26). He alone knows everything, even our soul, our feelings, our character, the secret impulses that are necessary to be moved in order to bring us to heaven, and He knows the effects that such and such a thing will cause in us, and He has all the means at his disposal. If we love God it is impossible that there could be something in the world that doesn’t coincide and contribute to our good.

68 We want to tend toward the sanctification and the salvation of men, our brothers. Jesus Christ came into the world “for us men.” Therefore, “all man, the whole man and all men”[96] and in a preferential way – yet without discrimination – the ones who are more in need ought to be the object of our love and service. In likeness of the incarnate and crucified Word, we must have “thirst for souls.” We must love in concrete deeds the man who is needy – materially or spiritually – never using him as demagogic propaganda. We follow the One who inspired Saint John to say: God is love (1 Jn 4:8).

c. The union of both natures
54 The whole illustrious mystery of the Incarnate Word should be our constant inspiration for our life: “The Father as though uttering Himself, begot the Son, equal in all things to Himself. For he would not have uttered Himself completely and perfectly, if there were anything less or more in His Word than in Himself. Here above all do we recognize ‘yes, yes; no, no’ (Mt 5:37). And therefore, this Word is truly the Truth.”[79]

55 In the Incarnation, the Word anoints with holy unction every cell of the body of Jesus, and his entire soul, both in its essence and faculties. There is nothing in Christ that is not thrice holy, and therefore, infinitely adorable. Everything in Him is transparency, authenticity, sincerity, coherence, and truth: I am... the Truth (Jn 14:6). He is the Amen (Rv 3:14). For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God (2 Cor 1:20), for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 2:9). In Him there is nothing empty, hollow, or not assumed hypostatically; is nothing superficial, feigned or camouflaged; no lie, falsehood, insecurity, hiding, or hypocrisy. He is One Only,[80] the Word, in two distinct natures; both of which are perfect, whole, and hypostatically united.

56 Christ is One without comparison, as Nicholas of Gorran says, “[oneness] is said of Christ in multiple ways:

1. Because of the divine nature there is only one God; henceforth, there is no God except One.

2. He is the only Creator because of his infinite dominion: One is the High one, Creator of all the things (Eccl 1:8).

3. He is unique as man because of the singular eminence of his holiness: there is none that does good (Ps 14:1), it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people (Jn 11:50).

4. He is the only Lord because of the preeminence of government: one Lord, one faith (Eph 4:5). In the same way there is one Lord, Jesus Christ.

5. He is the only Teacher because of the infusion of knowledge: Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ (Mt 23:10).

6. An only Father because of the creation of all things: for you have one Father, who is in heaven (Mt 23:9).

7. An only Shepherd because of the common care of the faithful: So there shall be one flock, one shepherd (Jn 10:16).

8. An only Victim because of the one-time ransom paid for our Redemption: For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Heb 10:14).”[81]

57 We profess our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 4), and that in Him is contained a reference to all creatures. He is the point of meeting and union between the one who comprehends and the pilgrim; the Master[82] and the slave[83]; the century and the moment; the universe and the atom; the from-now-on of salvation and the up-to-now of the promises; the not-yet of what we are waiting for and the already-realized. He is the point of meeting and union of God and man; of the eschatological and the incarnated; of the sidereal distances and the inch. For that reason, nothing escapes Christ: neither space travel, nor the world of electronics and computers; neither the most current science nor the most sophisticated technology; nor recent discoveries, the family, work, culture, politics, economics, etc. Therefore, we want to live the exhortation of Saint Ignatius of Antioch: “Stop your ears, therefore when any one speaks to you at variances with Jesus Christ.”[84]

58 There is one Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Cor 8:6), and therefore we want “to leave no stone unturned so that the love of Christ may have the highest supremacy in the Church and society.”[85]

59 Because Christ is One, we want to work with all our strength to build our life in union with legitimate Shepherds, most especially with a cordial fidelity with the Bishop of Rome, bearing witness to the one Church:

- so that all Christians may arrive at perfect unity, to fulfill the promise and prophecy of the Lord: So there shall be one flock, one shepherd (Jn 10:16); and that his prayer would bear fruit: that they may all be one (Jn 17:21). This is the ecumenical work.

- so that all men may confess the adorable Name of the Lord Jesus, fulfilling his commandment: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation (Mk 16:15). This is the missionary work. We must remember that “it is above all in truth that unity is built: the communion of minds is easily transformed into the union of hearts...”[86]

60 Only in the truth will we be able to live the ineffable reality that Saint John Eudes expresses: “All of his is yours: the Spirit, the heart, the body, and the soul and all their faculties... all that there is in you must be grafted into him... he must be your spirit, your heart, your love, your life, and all of yours.”[87]

61 The two natures of the Incarnate Word, entire and perfect, remind us of the double reality of the created – supernatural and natural – and therefore, of the real distinction between grace and nature, faith and reason, Church and world. These must not be confused, nor be changed, nor be mixed, nor be absorbed, nor be submerged. One must not confuse the human with the divine, which is a kind of blending with which no Christian understanding should be concerned. The two natures move us to the practice of virtues seemingly-opposed, and to the avoidance of all false Gnostic monism, for example, justice vs. love, firmness vs. sweetness, fortitude vs. meekness, holy anger vs. patience, purity vs. great affection, magnanimity vs. humility, prudence vs. courage, joy vs. penance, etc. High sanctity is the eminent union of all the virtues, even the most diverse.

62 Both natures, conserving their properties, are united substantially in the person of the Word, therefore, there is no place for false dualisms nor destructive dialectics that seek to divide, separate, and oppose grace and nature, faith and reason, Church and world. These are realities that must not be destructively opposed, but orderly united. The two natures move us not to compromise either our spiritual life or the pastoral life, not emphasizing any element over another. Avoiding all duality, penetrating all one’s life with the Truth, being “amen” of the “Amen.”[88]

63 It is also necessary to be cautious to never fall into Manichean visions of reality, or into Jansenistic reductionism. We must see to it that the legitimate and just autonomy of the temporal and the spiritual do not degenerate into independence from God: “without a creator there can be no creature.”[89] Atheism is “the most grave phenomenon of our time.”[90]

64 It is certain that it is God who assumes a human nature and not the other way around. And it should be this way in all our life that we should always give primacy to God over the world, to grace over nature, to faith over reason: “in the priority of ethics over technology, in the primacy of the person over things, and in the superiority of the spirit over matter.”[91] Just as the two natures in Christ are ordered, so all reality must be given a hierarchical subordination between the supernatural and natural orders. He is the one who gives us the law that directs the relationship between both orders. It is God who heals and elevates man, not the other way around. It is faith that purifies and perfects reason, not the other way around. It is the Church that cures and saves the world and not the other way around. The inversion of values that affects modern culture is another problem of our time. It is necessary to give more importance to this problem than that which is presently given, and to seek first that which is primary: seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well (Mt 6:33).

65 Neither is the mystery of the Incarnation a mere union of the divine nature with human nature, but rather it is a union of assumption.[92] Any other way of union between God and creature is not sufficient to unite all things in him (Eph 1:10), but, analogous to the mystery of the Incarnation, must be an assumption, i.e., an action and a passion that expresses the fact of becoming and not merely a completed work, and which states the difference between the starting point and the ending point. Likewise it is necessary to “take up” the cultures, purifying them and elevating them, starting from Christ and the Gospel “within the framework of the Church.”[93] A mere union, or a nominal “label” on reality, is not enough to say that reality is truly taken in possession by Christ. “Being in the world” only makes sense for us when it depends on “not being of the world.” This is the only way to be truly salt of the earth and light of the world (Mt 5:13ff), otherwise we would convert ourselves into tasteless salt and into light under a bushel basket.

d. The purpose of the Incarnation
66 The ultimate and absolute purpose of the Incarnation is the glory of God. The mediate purpose is the exaltation and glory of Christ, the redeemer of man. The immediate purpose is the redemption of mankind. With this in mind we always want to look for the glory of God, the ultimate end of the whole universe, in everything and for everything; in a particular way, in the search, investigation, proclamation, and celebration of the truth, because we follow the Word that says: I am the Truth (Jn 14:6), because it is the “Truth…the final end of the whole universe”[94] and for this reason Jesus Christ became man: for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth (Jn 18:37). It is truth that primarily gives undimmed knowledge issuing in praise of God.

67 A particular way of giving glory to God is trusting without limits in his Providence, based on his design of salvation, that manifests itself in a most eminent way in the Incarnation. We must learn how to look at everything as coming from The One who doesn’t even forget a sparrow... and who has counted even the hairs on our head.[95] For that reason Saint Paul teaches that in everything God works for good with those who love him (Rom 8:28). When he says everything, he leaves out nothing. This includes all situations: prosperous or adverse, things concerning the good of the soul, goods of fortune, reputation, all conditions of human life (family, study, talents, etc), all interior states we experience (joys, happiness, privations, dryness, displeasures, tediousness, temptations, etc.), even faults and sins. Everything, absolutely everything. When Saint Paul says works for good, it is understood that they cooperate, contribute, and happen for our spiritual good. It is necessary to have this vision and not that of the flesh or the world. It is necessary to see everything in the light of the loving designs of the Providence of God discovered only by the spiritual man: The spiritual man judges all things (1 Cor 2:15). We must believe with unyielding steadfastness that even the occurrences which are most adverse and opposed to our natural view are arranged by God for our good, even though we don’t understand his designs and we ignore the end to which he wants to bring us. Yet, for our part, we must fulfill a condition for this to happen. This is why he adds those that love Him: those whose will is united and submissive to that of God, who above all strive for the interests and the glory of God, who are willing to sacrifice everything without reservation convinced that nothing is as advantageous as to abandon themselves into the hands of God, in all which He is pleased to order, as Jesus showed us: if any one serves me, the Father will honor him (Jn 12:26). He alone knows everything, even our soul, our feelings, our character, the secret impulses that are necessary to be moved in order to bring us to heaven, and He knows the effects that such and such a thing will cause in us, and He has all the means at his disposal. If we love God it is impossible that there could be something in the world that doesn’t coincide and contribute to our good.


68 We want to tend toward the sanctification and the salvation of men, our brothers. Jesus Christ came into the world “for us men.” Therefore, “all man, the whole man and all men”[96] and in a preferential way – yet without discrimination – the ones who are more in need ought to be the object of our love and service. In likeness of the incarnate and crucified Word, we must have “thirst for souls.” We must love in concrete deeds the man who is needy – materially or spiritually – never using him as demagogic propaganda. We follow the One who inspired Saint John to say: God is love (1 Jn 4:8).

[22] Cf. Ps 89:1.

[23] Saint Augustine, On the Holy Trinity, 13, 9.

[24] Cf. Jn 15:5.

[25] Cf. Lk 1:28.

[26] Saint Ambrose, Commentary on Saint Luke, 2, 19.

[27] Saint Ignatius Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 322.

[28] Cf. LG 56.

[29] John Paul II, Address to the International Theological Commission, October 6, 1981.

[30] Cf. 1 Cor 12:3; Jn 20:28.

[31] John Paul II, Address to the Latin-American Episcopal Conference, July 7, 1980.

[32] Cf. Jn 14:6.

[33] LG 1.

[34] John Paul II, Address to the Pontifical Antonianum University, January 16, 1982.

[35] Council of Nicea I, The Nicene Creed.

[36] Saint Irenaeus, Against the Heresies, 4, 20, 7.

[37] John Paul II, Angelus Message, September 6, 1981.

[38] John Paul II, Angelus Message, August 2, 1981.

[39] Cf. ST I, 34, 3; I-II, 93, 1, 2: “And among other things expressed by this Word, the eternal law itself is expressed thereby”.

[40] GS 22.

[41] GS 22.

[42] John Paul II, Homily at Mass in Independence Square in Ghana, May 10, 1980.

[43] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Compendium of Theology, 381.

[44] Saint Vincent de Paul, Letters, 11, 32.

[45] Saint Benedict, Holy Rule, 53, 1.

[46] Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, 9.

[47] Saint Augustine, Exposition on the Book of Psalms, 26, 2, 2.

[48] CG IV, 54.

[49] Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, Elevation 33. 34. 36.

[50] Cf. Jn 10:10.

[51] LG 12.

[52] Cf. 2 Tm 4:2.

[53] Cf. Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 26-27; PO 2.

[54] Letter to Diognetus, 5: “They love all men, and are persecuted by all… those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”

[55] Saint Paul of the Cross, Letter 47.

[56] Cf. Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on Saint Matthew, 15, 5.

[57] Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, 48.

[58] Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, 48.

[59] Cf. 2 Cor 3:6.

[60] Cf. 1 Cor 2:12.

[61] Cf. Gal 5:1-2.

[62] Cf. Ps 50:14 [Vulgate version].

[63] Saint Teresa of Avila, Way of Perfection, 335, 2.

[64] PC 5; RD 7.

[65] Cf. LG 44.

[66] Cf. Rom 8:29.

[67] Cf. Phil 3:10.

[68] Cf. Phil 3:21.

[69] Cf. Jn 17:11.

[70] Cf. Jn 17:14-16.

[71] Blessed Isaac de Stella, Sermon 11.

[72] Saint John of Avila, Treatise about the Priesthood, 12.

[73] Saint Gregory of Nacianzus, Epistles, 101; AG 3, footnote 15; cf. Saint Athanasius, Epistle to Epicte­tus, 7; Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 4,9; Marius Victorinus, Against Arrius 3,3; Saint Basil, Epistle 261, 2; Saint Gregory Nicene, Antirrethicus, Against Apollinarius, 17; Saint Ambrose, Epistles, 48, 5; Saint Augustine, Treatise on the Gospel according to John 23, 6; C. Chr. 36, 236; The Agony of Christ, 22, 24; Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Against Nestorius I, 1; Saint Fulgentius, Epistles, 17,3.5; To Trasimundus III, 21.

[74] DP 400, 469.

[75] John Paul II, Discourse to the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, January 15, 1985.

[76] John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of Zimbabwe in Ad Limina Visit, July 2, 1988.

[77] Cf. Saint Bernard, Sermons about the Songs of Songs, 85, 12.

[78] Saint John of Avila, Talk to the Nuns of Saint Clare of Montilla.

[79] Saint Augustine, On the Holy Trinity, 15, 14, 23.

[80] Cf. Rom 5:17.

[81] Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, 8, 2.

[82] Cf. 2 Tm 2:21.

[83] Cf. Phil 2:7.

[84] Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Trallians, 9, 1.

[85] John Paul II, Address to Episcopal Conference of Tuscany, September 14, 1980.

[86] John Paul II, Meeting with Clergy and Religious in Fatima, May 13, 1982.

[87] Saint John Eudes, Treatise about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1, 5.

[88] Cf. Rv 3:14.

[89] GS 36.

[90] ES 25.

[91] RH 16.

[92] Cf. ST III, 2, 8.

[93] John Paul II, Address to the Council of “Equipes Notre-Dame”, September 17, 1979.

[94] CG I, 1.

[95] Cf. Lk 12:6-7.

[96] Cf. RH 13-18.

Note: This English translation of the Constitutions of Institute of the Incarnate Word and the Directory of Spirituality is a draft version and is subject to further revision and improvement.