Transcript:
The Third Article of the Creed, “Who was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.”
In this talk, we will talk about the third article of the Creed, “Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.” The following is the Roman catechism’s explanation of the third article of the Creed, “Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.”
The Word, which is a Person of the Divine Nature, assumed human nature in such a manner that there should be the same Person in both the divine and human natures. Hence this admirable union preserved the actions and properties of both natures; and as Pope St. Leo the Great said: The lowliness of the inferior nature was not consumed in the glory of the superior, nor did the assumption of the inferior lessen the glory of the superior.
When we say that the Son of God was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, we do not mean that this Person alone of the Holy Trinity accomplished the mystery of the Incarnation. Although the Son only assumed human nature, yet all the Persons of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, were authors of this mystery.
As soon as the Blessed Virgin assented to the announcement of the Angel in these words, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word, the most sacred body of Christ was immediately formed, and to it was united a rational soul enjoying the use of reason, and thus in the same instant of time He was perfect God and perfect man.
As soon as the soul of Christ was united to His body, the Divinity became united to both; and thus at the same time His body was formed and animated, and the Divinity united to body and soul. Hence, the Most Holy Virgin is truly and properly called the Mother of God and Man.
Elizabeth also declared the same truth when” being filled with the Holy Ghost, she understood the Conception of the Son of God, and said: Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
As the body of Christ was formed of the pure blood of the immaculate Virgin without the aid of man, as we have already said, and by the sole operation of the Holy Ghost, so also, at the moment of His Conception, His soul was enriched with an overflowing fullness of the Spirit of God, and a superabundance of all graces. For God poured into His soul the plenitude of all graces so abundantly that of his fullness we all have received.
Although possessing that Spirit by which holy men attain the adoption of sons of God, He cannot, however, be called the adopted son of God; for since He is the Son of God by nature, the grace, or name of adoption, can on no account be deemed applicable to Jesus Christ.
The second part of this third article says, “Born of the Virgin Mary.”
The Nativity of Christ transcends the order of nature, but as the conception itself transcends the order of nature, so also the birth of our Lord presents to our contemplation nothing but what is divine, a mystery.
Christ is born of His Mother without any diminution of her maternal virginity, just as He afterward went forth from the sepulcher while it was closed and sealed, and entered the room in which His disciples were assembled, the doors being shut; or, not to depart from every-day examples, just as the rays of the sun penetrate without breaking or injuring in the least the solid substance of glass, so after a like but more exalted manner did Jesus Christ come forth from His mother’s womb without injury to her maternal virginity. Such was the work of the Holy Ghost, who at the Conception and birth of the Son so favored the Virgin Mother as to impart to her fecundity while preserving inviolate her perpetual virginity.
Father Spirago gives us the following explanation of this article of the creed.
The second divine person became man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the action of the Holy Spirit at the moment of the Annunciation. “Just as the sun must be wrapped in clouds if we are to gaze upon it with eyes undimmed, so God wrapped Himself in flesh as in a cloud, so that the eyes of our soul might bear to look upon Him.” Human thought must be clothed in words to reach our ears; so God clothed Himself in human nature to reach the souls of men. “The Word (i.e., the Son of God) was made flesh (i.e., became man) and dwelt amongst us”. The Incarnation took place in the instant when Our Lady uttered the words: “Be it done unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). They err who think that the human nature was first formed and afterward united to the divine person, just as the Agnostics were wrong in asserting that Christ brought His human body from heaven.
Christ received His body from the Virgin Mary. He was made from a woman and was of the seed of David. The Son of man came down from heaven, it is true regarding the divine person, but not regarding His human nature; we must not, however, imagine that the divine essence came down from heaven and united itself to the human nature; this would mean that all three persons of the Blessed Trinity have assumed our human nature. Such a thing is impossible, for such a union would require a change in the divine essence, which is incapable of change.
Only one of the divine persons, the Son of God, assumed our human nature. God (i.e., a divine person), not the Godhead (i.e., the divine essence) became man. There is, however, an intimate union between the nature of God and the nature of man in the person of the Son; and all the divine persons certainly had their share in the work of the Incarnation, for in the work which God does outside Himself all three persons of the Trinity have their share.
The Incarnation is peculiarly the work of the three divine persons. The three divine persons formed a human soul and a human body and united to them the Second Person of the Trinity. The three persons of the Trinity co-operated in the Incarnation, but the Second Person only was united to the flesh. The Incarnation is ascribed especially to the Holy Spirit because it is the greatest work of God’s love, the incarnation.
The Church teaches that the works of love are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, Who is the love of the Father and the Son. According to the Fathers, there is no doubt that either God the Father or the Holy Spirit might have become man; but it was met that He Who is the Son of God from all eternity should become the Son of man; that He Who is the perfect image of God should restore to mankind that supernatural image which had been lost by sin.
The Father of Jesus is therefore God the Father in heaven; Joseph, the spouse of Mary, is only the foster father of Jesus. St. Gregory the Great tells us that Christ is the Son of God, not only because He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, but also because God formed His sacred humanity. In the first promise of the Redeemer as we read it in the Protevangelium Christ is called, not the seed of man, but the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), and in the genealogy of Christ recorded by St. Matthew, no mention is made of His descent from Joseph, but only from Mary. Yet Christ was commonly thought to be the Son of Joseph. Mary was espoused to St. Joseph that no accusation might be made against her by the world and that she might have in him a protector.
About St. Joseph we have the following facts: He was a carpenter; he was a just man. St. Jerome tells us he was perfect in every virtue, and St. Thomas Aquinas gives as the reason for his holiness that he was so close to the fount of holiness, just as the spring is clearer as we approach its source. St. Francis of Sales tells us that St. Joseph was conspicuous for his purity, and therein surpassed all the saints and even the angels. To him was granted the honor which kings and prophets sighed for in vain; he might take his Lord into his arms, kiss Him, speak with Him, clothe Him, protect Him. He was called father by Him Whose Father was in heaven. Many saints assert that St. Joseph has a very high place in heaven as the spouse of the Blessed Virgin and that he will be called upon by men in the last days of the world and give signs of his great power.
St. Joseph is the patron of the church. His prayers for the church have great efficacy on the throne of God. He is also the patron of a happy death, dying as he did himself in the arms of Jesus and Mary. He is also invoked for temporal wants since his care on this earth was the support of the Holy Family. St. Thomas Aquinas says that St. Joseph received power from God to help with all necessities, and St. Teresa declared that no prayer of hers to St. Joseph in temporal or spiritual need was ever left unanswered. The Catholic Church has always specially honored St. Joseph, after Our Lady and above the other saints.
The Incarnation of the Son of God is a mystery that we cannot understand, but only admire and honor. The conception and Incarnation are as little understood by us as the flowering of the rod of Aaron. “Shut thy eyes, O Reason,” says St. Bernard, “for under the veil of faith thou canst see the sheen of this mystery, just as the eye of the body can bear the light of the sun when shaded by a cloud.” “I know that the Son of God became man, but how I do not know” (St. John Chrysostom).
The following are illustrations that have been used to convey the idea of the union of the Godhead and the human nature in Christ: The divinity and humanity are united in Christ as body and soul are united in man (Athanasian Creed). If spirit and matter, so essentially distinct, are united in man, all the less matter of surprise is it that the divinity and humanity, which after all have their points of resemblance, are found united in Christ.
“Speech is a sort of incarnation,” says St. Augustine. “At first the word is conceived as a mere thought, something purely spiritual. If that thought is to be conveyed to another, it is put in words; yet, though it appeals to the senses, it is nonetheless produced from the soul. So the Word of God has appeared to many and ceases not to remain with the Father.” Other illustrations to show the action of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s conception: St. Isidore tells us that Christ was formed from Mary just as Eve was formed from Adam. The Incarnation resembles in some respects the creation, when everything was produced by God’s almighty power without the cooperation of man.
The mystery of the Incarnation is commemorated by the ringing of the Angelus bell. The words of the Angelus recall in the most lively way the scene of the Annunciation. At the words in the Credo of the Mass: “He took flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit” the celebrant always kneels, also at the words in the Last Gospel: “And the Word was made flesh.” On Christmas Day and the Annunciation, the sacred ministers at High Mass kneel on the altar steps and bow their heads at the “Et incarnates est” of the Credo. The angels also venerate the mystery of the Incarnation.
The Incarnation of the Son of God was necessary to give perfect satisfaction, expiation, and propitiation of the injured majesty of God. God might have chosen some other means for redeeming man. He might, by special exercise of His goodness, have been content with an imperfect satisfaction, or have remitted the guilt without demanding any satisfaction at all. St. Augustine on this subject writes: “There are some foolish people who think that God could not have redeemed mankind otherwise than by Himself taking flesh, and suffering at the hands of sinners. He might have followed quite another plan.” As we shall see in treating the death of Christ God wished to have perfect satisfaction, to display His justice as well as His love and mercy.
Perfect satisfaction/expiation could be given only by a God-man. The greatness of an injury is measured by the dignity of the person who suffers; hence the offense given to God is infinitely great. No finite being, not even the most perfect angel, could atone for an offense against God, only God Himself so that to redeem man God needed to become man. As God only He could not suffer; as man only, He could not redeem; hence the Godhead assumed a human nature. If a valuable portrait is damaged beyond recognition it cannot be restored unless the sitter presents himself to the artist; thus God had to come down on earth to restore His likeness in man (St. Athanasius).
The God-man could satisfy perfectly the injured majesty of God by appearing on earth in a state of lowliness. Had He appeared in His majesty men would never have dared to crucify Him. Like Codrus, the Athenian king, He secured victory for His own by dying for them. The oracle had promised the Athenians victory if their king died at the hands of the enemy, and Codrus, disguising his royal dress, marched into the enemy’s camp and was by put to death. The prophets had foretold that mankind should be saved by the death of its King, and Christ, taking on the form of a slave, was put to death. The evil spirits fled when they saw Whom they had killed. If a king would prove his courage in battle, he must put away all symbols of his rank, to proclaim them only when he is victor; and this is what Our Lord Jesus Christ did. He will come again with great power and majesty. St. Thomas says that we cannot affirm with certainty that God would have become man had man not sinned; it certainly would not have been beyond His power.
The Second Person always remained God though He became man, and by the Incarnation, He lost none of His dignity. When we assert that the Son of God came down on earth, we do not mean that He left heaven. So a star may become visible to us without leaving the firmament. As St. Ambrose says, the divinity of Christ is not destroyed, but only hidden by His human nature, just as the sun is not put out, but veiled only by the clouds. And as the thought, because spoken, does not cease to be a product of the soul, so the Word of God did not cease to be with the Father (St. Augustine). As a word, though spoken only for the benefit of one person may be heard by all the bystanders, so the divine Word was not limited by the body which He assumed, but still fills heaven and earth. Moreover, God lost none of His dignity by the Incarnation. The sunlight which plays over filth is not defiled; still less is the Godhead defiled by taking flesh from the pure womb of Mary. If a prince put on a slave’s dress and in it picked a precious ring from the gutter to place on his finger, there is no loss of dignity; so, too, the Son of God was not degraded by taking on Himself the form of a slave and coming down on earth to save souls and gain them to Him. When the Apostle says that Jesus Christ debased Himself by taking the form of a servant, he does not mean that God lost anything, but only that He assumed a nature lower than His own, and gave us thereby an example of humility. “He humbled Himself”.
By the Incarnation of the Son of God, all the members of the human race have acquired a special dignity. St. Ambrose says: “The Almighty took the form of a slave that the slave might become a king.” “The Son of God became the Son of man that the children of men might become children of God” (St. Athanasius). “Oh, what a wondrous redemption is that where man is, as it were, put on a par with God!” (St. Hilary.)
St. Thomas Aquinas explains this article of faith in the following manner.
The Christian must not only believe in the Son of God, as we have seen but also in His Incarnation. St. John, after having written of things subtle and difficult to understand, points out the Incarnation to us when he says: “And the Word was made flesh.” As long as the Word of God was in the heart of the Father, it was not known except by the Father Himself; but when the Word assumed flesh – as a word becomes audible – then was it first made manifest and known. “Afterwards He was seen upon earth and conversed with men.”
There are several errors relating to the Third Article of the Credo. On this point, there arose many errors, and the holy Fathers at the Council of Nicea added in that other Creed several things which suppress all these errors relating to the incarnation of God.
Origen said that Christ was born and came into the world to save even the devils, and, therefore, at the end of the world all the demons will be saved. But this is contrary to the Holy Scripture: Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.” Consequently, to remove this error they added in the Creed: “Who for us men (not for the devils) and for our salvation, came down from heaven.” In this, the love of God for us is made more apparent.
Then another heretic, Photinus, would have Christ born of the Blessed Virgin, but added that He was a mere man who by a good life in doing the will of God merited to become the son of God even as other holy men. This, too, is denied by this saying of John: “I came down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him that sent Me.” Now if Christ were not in heaven, He would not have descended from heaven, and were He a mere man, He would not have been in heaven. Hence, it is said in the Nicene Creed: “He came down from heaven.”
And then the other heretic, Manichaeus, however, said that Christ was always the Son of God and He descended from heaven, but He was not actually but only in appearance clothed in true flesh. But this is false because it is not worthy of the Teacher of Truth to have anything to do with what is false, and just as He showed His physical Body, so it was His: “Handle, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me have.” To remove this error, therefore, they added: “And He was incarnate.”
Then another heretic, Ebion, who was a Jew, said that Christ was born of the Blessed Virgin in the ordinary human way. But this is false, for the Angel said of Mary: “That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” And the holy Fathers to destroy this error, added: “By the Holy Ghost.”
Another heretic, Valentinus, believed that Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, but would have the Holy Spirit deposit a heavenly body in the Blessed Virgin so that she contributed nothing to Christ’s birth except to furnish a place of dwelling for Him. Thus, he said, this Body appeared through the Blessed Virgin, as though she were a channel. This is a great error, for the Angel said: “And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Hence the Creed says: “Born of the Virgin Mary” Ex Maria Virginae. And St. Paul says: “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman.”
Other heretics such as Arius and Apollinaris also held that although Christ was the Word of God and was born of the Virgin Mary, nevertheless He did not have a soul, but in place of the soul was His divinity. This is contrary to the Scripture, for Christ says: “Now is My soul troubled.” And again: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death.” For this reason, the Fathers added: “And was made man.”
Now, man is made up of body and soul. Christ had all that a true man has to save sin and all that is connected to sin such as concupiscence and so on. Christ was saved from all these. All the above-mentioned errors and all others that can be offered are destroyed by this, that He was made man.
The error of another heretic Eutyches, the monophysitism, particularly is destroyed by it. He held that, by a commixture of the divine nature of Christ with the human, He was neither purely divine nor purely human. This is not true, because by it Christ would not be a man. And so it is said: “He was made man.” This destroys also the error of Nestorius, who said that the Son of God only by an indwelling was united to man. This, too, is false, because by this Christ would not be man but only in a man, and that He became man is clear from these words: “He was in habit found as man.” “But now you seek to kill Me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I have heard of God.
From the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God, our faith has been strengthened. Before Christ came into the world, the Patriarchs and Prophets and John the Baptist told something of God; but men did not believe them as they believed Christ, who was with God, even more, was one with God. Hence, far more firm is our faith 27 in what is given us by Christ Himself: “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Thus, many mysteries of our faith which before the coming of Christ were hidden from us are now made clear by Jesus Christ.
Our hope is raised through the mystery of the incarnation. Certainly, the Son of Man did not come to us, assuming our flesh, for any trivial cause, but for our exceeding great advantage. For He made as it were a trade with us, assuming a living body and deigning to be born of the Virgin so that to us might be vouchsafed part of His divinity. And thus He became man that He might make man divine.
And then, through the Incarnation, the mystery of the incarnation, our love and charity is enkindled. There is no proof of divine charity so clear as that God, the Creator of all things, is made a creature; that Our Lord is become our brother, and that the Son of God is made the Son of man: “For God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son.”Therefore, upon consideration of this, our love for God ought to be enkindled and burst into flame.
Lastly, induces us to keep our souls pure. Our nature was exalted and ennobled by its union with God to the extent of being assumed into union with a Divine Person, the second person of the Holy Trinity. By consideration of all this, our desire to come to Christ is intensified. The Apostle desired “to be dissolved and be with Christ.” And it is this desire that grows in us as we meditate upon the Incarnation of God, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Most Holy Trinity. He is a true God and true man. He is the Emmanuel, God is with us.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Sancta María, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
