Newsletter 2021-04-28

I mentioned last week that we first need to be evangelized ourselves before we can effectively be employed to evangelize others. This is true, but it is also the case that gospeling others needs to begin before we are fully gospeled ourselves; for the simple reason that since being evangelized is a lifelong process, we would never get around to it at all if we needed to be fully evangelized first.

This is a case of being able to walk and chew gum at the same time. But in the sharing and formation of the Gospel, as evangelists we need to keep receiving that Gospel formation ourselves. The more we are filled, the more we have to pour out.

It is probably also true, that if we never venture out and share, that which we are filled with will become stagnant. God’s love and mercy is poured out in us, so that in turn it can be poured out to others. And as God’s love is infinite we need never fear that he is unable to refill us as we empty ourselves with the Gospel to others.

So there is a balance here. We need to have something to share, so we need to make being filled a priority. And yet, if we do not quickly pour out what we have received we also don’t receive all that we can. Think of it as emptying to make room for ever fresh and new blessings and mercy.

It is also true, if we just dabble and are sporadic and haphazard in our own formation by God’s Word, we not only will not be well equipped to share Christ’s Word, but we will also lack confidence, excitement, and familiarity with what we try to share.

It helps immensely to come alive in sharing devotionally with other believers. If we are not practiced in talking faith with other believers, it won’t be easier to have such conversations with the uninitiated and outsiders…

Since You Asked…

What is the meaning of the Incarnation?

The word incarnation is taken from Latin term incarnatio. It literally means “taking flesh” and in the Christian Faith it refers to God becoming human. In John 1:14 we learn of God the Son becoming flesh with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed the child born to Mary was a man, but it is the insistence of the Christian Faith that Jesus was also fully God. He is sometimes called the God-Man. Without ceasing to be fully divine, inseparable and equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit; God the Son also fully assumed our humanity in the womb of the Virgin Mary. In this way Jesus mediates God to man and then also represents man to God. The mystery of the Incarnation becomes a necessary means by which Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplishes our salvation.