Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: Incarnation

The Ascension causes men’s minds and hearts to ascend

Had Christ remained on earth, sight would have taken the place of faith. In heaven, there will be no faith because His followers will see; there will be no hope, because they will possess; but there will be love for love endureth forever! His leave-taking of the earth combined the Cross and the Crown that… Read More ›

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The Savior works mightily every day

31. “We are agreed that a dead person can do nothing: yet the Savior works mightily every day, drawing men to religion, persuading them to virtue, teaching them about immortality, quickening their thirst for heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring strength in face of death, manifesting Himself to each, and displacing the… Read More ›

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The Annunciation

8. Mary is definitively introduced into the mystery of Christ through this event: the Annunciation by the angel. This takes place at Nazareth, within the concrete circumstances of the history of Israel, the people which first received God’s promises. The divine messenger says to the Virgin: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you”… Read More ›

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Advent with the Mother of God

If you’re like me, you find yourself, so often, at the beginning of Advent with a glassy stare and a list that’s longer than Santa’s.  You’ll have shopping to do, baking to finish, wrapping and cleaning and a host of other things, all demanding your attention.  And I haven’t even taken into account the day-to-day… Read More ›

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Advent is here again

As is so often pointed out we often over look this season approaching because of the seculization of Christmas. Advent has been descibed as many things, a season of hope, preparation, a reminder of the end times. But how many have thought of it as a “sacrament?” But that was what St. Bernard taught as… Read More ›

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Embodiment, incarnation, flesh and blood

To age is something good, pleasant (?), well, no (!), for if life is about ‘something’ rather than “chance” then something deeper seems to be a play. What if we are just children at our beginnings, if all that we experience as awful as it is, as absurd as suffering and evil seem to be,… Read More ›

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His incarnation was absolutely real

The evening before our Lord gave himself up to death he shared his own body with his Apostles and offered them his blood, with the command that they were to do what he had done in order to keep the memory of his Passion alive. Then a strange thing happened. Earlier Jesus had charged his… Read More ›

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The ‘Small’ God Who Brought Heaven Down to Earth

Some years ago I found myself at a fashionable dinner party in Los Angeles where the lamb was roasted to perfection, and the deep, rich red Australian wine complimented it to a tee. The conversation around the dinner table was likewise high-minded and it did not take this largely secular gathering very long to turn… Read More ›

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The Saviour is working among us

Dead men cannot take effective action; their power of influence on others lasts only till the grave. Deeds and actions that energise others belong only to the living. Well, then, look at the facts in this case. The Saviour is working mightily among men, every day He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over… Read More ›

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The need for a “star” to guide us

How striking is the symbol of the star that recurs in all the images of Christmas and Epiphany! It still gives rise to deep feelings although, as with so many other sacred signs, it risks becoming common place because of its commercial overuse. Restored to its original context, the star we contemplate over the crib also speaks to the mind and heart… Read More ›

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