As many of my online friends know, and as the epigram under my weblog title indicates, I have a particular devotion to St Maximos Confessor. This brief comment from the Confessor on the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ may give some idea why that is:
Christ our God is born. He who created all things from nothing takes flesh endowed with a human soul and becomes a man. A star from the east, visible by day, guides the wise men to the place where lies the incarnate Word, to show in a mystical way that the word contained in the law and the prophets is superior to the evidence of the senses, and to lead the Gentiles to the full light of knowledge. For clearly, the word of the law and the prophets, rightly understood, is like a star leading those divinely chosen and called by the power of grace to recognize the incarnate Word.
The great mystery of the divine incarnation for ever remains a mystery. How can the person of the Word truly exist in the flesh while at the same time being wholly with the Father? How could he who is wholly divine by nature have become completely human without in any way repudiating either his divine nature in which he subsists as God, or ours in which he was made man? Only faith can grasp these mysteries. Faith is the ground of our confidence concerning things we can neither perceive nor understand.
Hat tip to the Young Fogey.
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