God Became Man

     The new translation of the Roman Missal has a few real gems in its text, particularly in the Collects.  During the Mass, and prayed as a collect during Advent, you hear the priest pray that we may come to share in the divinity of Christ.  This kind of echoes a quote from St. Athanasius and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that "God became man so that man might become God" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 460). 
     I want to think about this for a moment.  God became man so that we might become God.  This isn't a phrase that I've heard all too often in life.  My Dad used to say that it is up to us to become Christ to the world.  But don't you think that this sounds like we want to worship ourselves?  When mixing the water and the wine the priest speaks the phrase "May we come to share in His divinity who humbled Himself to share in our humanity."   So we pray during the Mass that we can be raised up to divinity with Christ.  Recall that the Eucharist is the wedding feast of the Lamb, and this is echoed by the priest when he states that those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb are blessed.  Christ unites His Body with His bride, the Church.  We become one Body.
     So let's take this down a notch.  We are becoming married to Christ!  That's really quite deep, and it adds a different dimension to what we do at Communion.  Keep in mind that we aren't simply married to Christ alone, but as members of the Church, we are in union with so many people in the past, present, and future.  And although they are not in full Communion with us, I would even suggest that we are linked, although imperfectly, to people of those Churches with valid sacraments (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, etc.).  Although I don't always like to refer to the Book of Common Prayer, there exists in the Anglican service an exhortation not to partake of the Body of Christ if you're not well disposed, which simply paraphrases a similar exhortation by St. Paul in I Corinthians 11:29. 
   Now I know I usually like to be a little bit more light hearted, but please forgive me.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!