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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240106
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240107
DTSTAMP:20260513T030645
CREATED:20231230T145306Z
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UID:11447-1704499200-1704585599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:GOD AND FLESH \nFrom the homilies of St Gregory Palamas \n◊◊◊ \nHIS IS THE FESTIVAL of the virgin birth! Our address must be exalted \ntherefore in accordance with the greatness of the feast…for nothing done by God \nfrom the beginning of time was more beneficial to all or more divine than \nChrist’s nativity… \nThe pre-eternal and uncircumscribed and almighty Word is now born \naccording to the flesh\, without home\, without shelter\, without dwelling\, and \nplaced as a babe in the manger\, seen by men’s eyes\, touched by their hands\, and \nwrapped in layers of swaddling bands. He is not a spiritual creature coming into \nbeing after previously not existing; nor flesh which is brought to birth but will \nsoon perish; nor flesh and mind united to form a rational creature\, but God and \nflesh mingled unconfusedly… \nDavid\, who is a forefather of God on account of Him who has now been \nborn of his line\, hymns God somewhere “Thy hands have made me and \nfashioned me” \n… God formed human nature out of the earth with His own hand \nand breathed His own life into man\, whereas everything else He brought into \nbeing by His word alone. He then allowed man to be governed by his own \nthoughts and follow his own initiative\, because he was a rational creature with \na sovereign will. Left alone\, deceived by the evil one’s counsel and unable to \nwithstand his assault\, man did not keep to what was in accordance with his \nnature\, but slid towards what was unnatural to it. So now God not only forms \nhuman nature anew by His own hand in a mysterious way\, but also keeps it near \nHim. Not only does He assume this nature and raise it up from the fall\, but He \ninexpressibly clothes Himself in it and unites Himself inseparably with it and \nwas born as both God and man: from a woman\, in the first instance\, that He \nmight take upon Himself the same nature which He formed in our forefathers; \nand from a woman who was a virgin\, in the second\, so that He might make man \nnew. \nIf He had been born from seed\, He would not have been a new man and\, \nbeing part of the old stock\, and inheriting that fall\, He would not have been able \nto receive the fullness of the incorruptible Godhead in Himself and become an \ninexhaustible source of hallowing. And so\, not only would He not have been able \nto cleanse\, with abundance of power\, our forefathers’ defilement caused by sin\, \nbut neither would He have been sufficient to sanctify those who came later. Just \nas water stored in a tank would not be sufficient to provide a large city with \nenough to drink continuously\, but would require its own spring… in the same \nway\, neither a man nor a holy angel who\, by sharing in grace…would suffice to \nsanctify everyone at all times… Creation needed a well man\, containing its own \nspring\, that those who drew near it and drank their full might remain \nundefeated by the attacks of weaknesses and deprivations inherent in the \ncreated world. So…the Lord Himself came and saved us\, being made a man like \nus for our sake\, and continuing unchanged as God. \nBuilding now the new Jerusalem\, raising up a temple for Himself with \nliving stones\, and gathering us into a holy and worldwide Church\, He sets in its \nfoundation\, which is Christ\, the ever-flowing fount of grace. For the Lord’s \neternal fullness of life\, the all-wise and omnipotent divine nature\, is made one \nwith human nature…that the Lord might instil into it wisdom and power and \nfreedom and unfailing life. \n  \n6 St Gregory Palamas. The Homilies. Trans. Christopher Veniamin. Waymart\, PA: Mount Thabor Publishing\, 2009. \n477\, 481-482.15 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-148/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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