The sacred humanity of Christ

THAT gospel narrative tracing the genealogy of Christ (cfr. Mt 1,1-17) simply tells us that Christ is first of all God who became man in order to redeem us. He is both God and man, “perfectus Deus, perfectus homo,” as expressed in Latin. He is not half God, nor half man, or some kind of a hybrid.

It’s, of course, a mystery, a supernatural truth, and an essential part of our Christian faith. Any belief that considers Christ as God only who appears like man, or man only who appears like God, is a heresy.

That gospel narrative invites us to develop a deep devotion to the sacred humanity of Christ since it is through his humanity that we are given a way to become like God, as we ought, since God created us in his image and likeness.

Thus, at the one point, Christ clearly said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14,6) In the Catechism, we are told that the Son of God became man “to save us by reconciling us with God,” (457) “so that we might know God’s love,” (458) “to be our model of holiness, (459) “to make us partakers of the divine nature.” (460)

Because Christ is God who is also man, the Catechism teaches us that he “enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us.” (521) It further says that “by his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man. We are called to become one with him.” In other words, we are meant to be like Christ, to be “another Christ.”

We have to realize then that is it is indispensable for us to know Christ so well as to love him, and to love him so well as to become identified with him, since love tends to make the lover to be one with the beloved.

How important therefore it is for us to really know Christ as much as we can, studying his life and teachings in the gospel, and carrying out the new commandment he gave us before he ascended into heaven, which is to love one another as he himself loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34)

We should therefore conquer our heart for Christ. We have to learn to wholly give it to him. We have to learn to engage the heart with the right treasure, the ultimately genuine one, the one that lasts forever, and not the many pseudo-treasures that the world offers.

Thus, we should often echo those words in Scriptures in our ears: “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.” (Prov 23,26) Or, Christ’s words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (Lk 10,27) Here God both begs and commands for our heart.

This, of course, requires some effort, and even gargantuan effort, because the human heart is actually very difficult to read, let alone manage. It can be tricky and very slippery to handle. St. Augustine’s words can come in handy here:

“Man is a great deep, Lord.” he said. “You number his very hairs and they are not lost in your sight. But the hairs of his head are easier to number than his affections and the movements of his heart.”

Let’s always ask for God’s grace even as try to give our all to pursue this goal.