Vigils Reading

OUR NEED OF

THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST

From an oration by St Gregory of Nazianzus

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The very Son of God, older than the ages, the invisible, the

incomprehensible, the incorporeal, the beginning of beginning, the light of

light, the fountain of life and immortality, the image of the archetype, the

immovable seal, the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the Father: he it

is who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature,

and unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul, to purify like by

like. He takes to himself all that is human, except for sin. He comes forth as God,

in the human nature he has taken, one being, made of two contrary elements,

flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity, flesh received it.

He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that

I may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied

for a brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness.

What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God

when I was created, but I failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh, to bring

salvation to the image, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union

with us, a union far more wonderful than the first.

Holiness had to be brought to us by the humanity assumed by one who

was God, so that God might lead us back to himself through the mediation of his

Son. The Son arranged this for the honor of the Father, to whom the Son is

clearly obedient in all things.

The Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, came in search

of the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer

sacrifice. When he found it, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the

cross, and led it back to the life of heaven.

We need God to take our flesh and die, that we might live. We have died

with him, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him, because we

have died with him. We have been glorified with him, because we have risen

again with him.