St. Anthony Catholic Church at 20428 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, FL 34601 US - Family Faith Enrichment

The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had in to the secret thoughts of human hearts. (Cf.Mk. 14:36, Mt. 11:27, Jn. 1:18) Similarly, at the Ecumenical Council at Constantinopole in 681, the Church confessed that Christ possesses two wills and two natural operations, divine and human. They are not opposed to each other, but cooperate in such a way that the word made flesh willed humanly to his Father all that he decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation. Christ’s human will, “does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his divine and almighty will.” Since the Word became flesh, and assuming a true humanity, Christ’s body is finite. At the same time the Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus, “we see our God made visible and are so caught up in the love of a God we cannot see.” (Christmas Preface One) THE HEART OF THE INCARNATE WORD. Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his passion and gave himself up for each one of us: “The Son of God…loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus pierced by our sins and for our salvation, is rightly considered the chief sign of and symbol of that love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings without exception. The incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. REFLECTION. As a Catholic Christian, if I believe that Jesus is true God and man, and my personal savior, how do I reverence in his Presence today in Word and Sacrament? Do I prepare for Sunday Mass by reading his Word beforehand? Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church.

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