Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! The third article of the Apostle’s Creed is “Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary” There are nineteen (19) In Brief passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding this article of the Creed. The following is a reflection on article 481.
The “nature” of a thing, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is an innate or essential quality or character of a thing which is identifiable as a kind, sort or class of thing(s). In the case of God, the Divine nature is one and there is only one Divine Being, namely, God. Jesus Christ is at one and the same time, true God and true man. United in His eternal Divine Person are both the divine and human natures.
Some of the attributes of the Divine Nature which the Lord Jesus shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit are as follows: immortal (unable to die), omniscient (all knowing; cf. Job 10:13; John 16:30; 18:4; 19:28), omnipotent (all powerful; cf. 2 Kings 17:36; 1 Chronicles 16:11; 29:11-12; Ezra 8:22; Esther 13:9; Psalm 21:13), eternal (always existent; cf. Isaiah 40:28; Jeremiah 10:10)…
Some attributes of human nature which the Lord Jesus shares with us are: mortality (susceptible to death), intelligent/rational (able to know), temporal (born in time)
Part of what makes us human beings human persons is the union of our body and soul. Jesus Christ from the moment of His incarnation until His saving death on the Cross and from His glorious resurrection for all eternity now was and is united in His body and soul, but He is a Divine Person, one of the Trinity. Even as His body and soul were torn apart on the Cross and remained apart until the resurrection they were united in the Person of the Word, the Eternal Son who was present both to His mortal remains in the tomb and to the soul as it visited the imprisoned souls in the “harrowing of Hell.” (cf. 1 Peter 3:19)
Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is not “part God” and “part man.” He is entirely God and entirely man without any confusion or division, united in His very Person. The technical term for this is the “hypostatic union.”
The fourth (of twenty-one so far) Ecumenical Council was held in Chalcedon in the year AD 451, to address these issues. We are indebted to the Council Father of Chalcedon who received the teaching of Pope Saint Leo I (AD 440 – 461) on this matter. When the Holy Father’s Tome was read during the deliberations the acclamation arose: “Peter has spoken through Leo.” His faith had not failed and he confirmed the brethren in the faith (Luke 22:31-32).
May our faith in the Lord Jesus, true God and true man be ever deepened and impact the way we live our human lives in His saving grace as part of His mystical body, Mother Church.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr