+THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL COME UPON YOU 25 March 2026
These words from our gospel today are some of the most transformative in world history, telling as of God’s eternal Word taking on our human flesh. This working of the Holy Spirit is not only the beginning of Christianity but what sustains each of our lives as we seek to be true followers of Christ in our world of today.
The mystery of the Incarnation was the central, animating theological focus of the early Cistercians of our Order in the 12th century. Christ’s humanity, his birth, infancy and suffering made God accessible to human affection so as to rid us of our hardness of heart. The early Cistercians saw the Incarnation not so much as a doctrine, but as an intimate act of love, inviting us to a very personal and emotional response.
And it is said that our Cistercian devotion to the Incarnation was inseparable from devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. She serves as the model for all those who give consent to the working of divine grace that is taking place in all of our lives. This began with our initiation into our Christian faith at Baptism. They understood long before Meister Eckhart that “we are all meant to be mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born.”
This brought me to reflect on something a modern theologian has told us in recent years. Fr Ronald Rolheiser, whom many of you may have read, holds that Incarnation is not just an historical event, but an ongoing reality where God becomes “flesh” in the ordinary, the physical and messy aspects of life. He teaches that the Incarnation honors the goodness of the material world and continues today through the Church as the “Body of Christ”.
And isn’t this the deeper meaning of what we just heard from the Prophet Isaiah when he told king Ahaz: “the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin will be with child, and bear a son, and you shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us!” It is realizing just how much each day “God is with us” that we as Christians can live the life we are called to by reason of our Baptism.
As Rolheiser reminds us, the Incarnation brings God into the mundane, into our kitchens as well as our cathedrals, sanctifying everyday life and physical reality. We are to be the living Body of Christ in today’s world. And being this “Body of Christ” is not just a metaphor, for if we are true believers we will constantly give “flesh” to God’s presence by simple acts of love and service. And as this season of Lent highlights, this often means acknowledging the ways God enters into our human vulnerability, limitation and suffering, offering no quick fix but an enduring and loving presence.
And isn’t this what the Holy Eucharist we celebrate each day at this altar is seeking to remind and convey to us? The early Cistercians saw the Eucharist as an extension of the Incarnation, a moment where the Word made flesh becomes present, allowing the believer to be drawn right into the very life of God. With the words of consecration “This is my Body,” “This is my Blood,” simple bread and wine are changed into the very Body and Blood of Christ.
In a very real way, what takes place at this altar is to take place all day long in our lives. What took place in Mary by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit is to unfold in each of our lives. We are to be Christ’s living and loving presence to all those with whom we live, work and pray. So let us ask the Holy Spirit to overshadow each and all of our hearts so that it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in and through each and all of us. Amen
Isa 7:10-14; Heb 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38