Confess His Incarnation with Humble Fervor
Confess His Incarnation with Humble Fervor
Collect
O God, who, seeing the human race fallen into death, willed to redeem it by the coming of your Only Begotten Son, grant, we pray, that those who confess his Incarnation with humble fervor may merit his company as their Redeemer.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
The Mystery of the Incarnation
Today’s Mass Collect asks us to reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation. How in the world can we even begin to reflect on a mystery so difficult to comprehend or even understand? Firstly, it begins with the simple recognition of our fallen state and how we are ensnared by death. This is can set the stage for God’s loving and redemptive act—the Incarnation of His Son Jesus Christ. This very act is intimate and personal.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 RSV
The Collect reminds us to confess the Incarnation with "humble fervor." This acknowledgment must be a deep, heartfelt recognition of the magnitude of God’s gesture towards us. As John reminds us: See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (I John 3:1 RSV)
Over the next few days as we anticipate the coming of the Christ child, may we live in the heart of Advent, moving from darkness into the redeeming light of Christ, who comes to dwell among us.
Let us pray
God our Father, you sent your Son to free mankind from the power of death. May we who celebrate the coming of Christ as man share more fully in his divine life, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.