"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father." (John 1:14)...
"Jesus is a revelation. Jesus is a revolution" says the Jesuit scholar Henri Boulad. But what kind of revolution? "Jesus empties heaven and moves the [Divine presence] to be among us: Emmanuel." and continues "Is it possible that God makes such a radical move? I have a response here to our Muslim brothers who think it is impossible. For them God cannot descend from heaven without losing his honor and dignity."
Now listen carefully because here Henri Boulad summarizes the Christian Mystery in as simple language as possible "If Jesus Christ is an illusion...If Christianity is a sheer mystification...If God did not come to us and did not descend from his heaven...If he did not take the radical and seemingly impossible leap of the incarnation, then he ceases being credible - he ceases being love - he ceases being God."
Let us reflect. Here is the message:
"The scandal of the Incarnation, which means that we cannot believe that God could debase himself , becomes the key and the supreme proof that this is the truth"
"But a God in heaven well served who looks to me and says 'You suffer. Have courage. Perhaps one day you will be with me in my heaven' is not God. A God who says 'Patience. I am fine here but you over there can suffer' is not God. This is the false God that we, often, figure that he sends us prophets from time to time to console us' . NO, NO. NO. This God who looks to me with a telescope is not my God. I do not want him."
"If there is a phenomenon of atheism today in the West as well as in Egypt, it is precisely because men say we are in fact better than God. The walk that I walk to help when I see a hungry person or a thirsty one or a person without faith, can't God do it? Has he no choice regarding his honor?"
"No. He did it. This is the supreme proof of the Christian Mystery. Do not look somewhere else. 'Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...' He descended. No more seventh heaven..."
"The only God I can believe, love and worship is the God Jesus Christ because he descended to me."
"'Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...' "
And the great preacher and Jesuit scholar Henri Boulad finished here his homily.
Now listen carefully because here Henri Boulad summarizes the Christian Mystery in as simple language as possible "If Jesus Christ is an illusion...If Christianity is a sheer mystification...If God did not come to us and did not descend from his heaven...If he did not take the radical and seemingly impossible leap of the incarnation, then he ceases being credible - he ceases being love - he ceases being God."
Let us reflect. Here is the message:
"The scandal of the Incarnation, which means that we cannot believe that God could debase himself , becomes the key and the supreme proof that this is the truth"
"But a God in heaven well served who looks to me and says 'You suffer. Have courage. Perhaps one day you will be with me in my heaven' is not God. A God who says 'Patience. I am fine here but you over there can suffer' is not God. This is the false God that we, often, figure that he sends us prophets from time to time to console us' . NO, NO. NO. This God who looks to me with a telescope is not my God. I do not want him."
"If there is a phenomenon of atheism today in the West as well as in Egypt, it is precisely because men say we are in fact better than God. The walk that I walk to help when I see a hungry person or a thirsty one or a person without faith, can't God do it? Has he no choice regarding his honor?"
"No. He did it. This is the supreme proof of the Christian Mystery. Do not look somewhere else. 'Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...' He descended. No more seventh heaven..."
"The only God I can believe, love and worship is the God Jesus Christ because he descended to me."
"'Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...' "
And the great preacher and Jesuit scholar Henri Boulad finished here his homily.
In his beautiful "Introduction to Christianity" Joseph Ratzinger (currently Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) mentions the cosmos and the cosmic vision of the Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin...
Listen too to Bishop Robert Baron speaking about the Trinity here...He spoke about everything in the cosmos that mirrors the relational character of the Trinity in one God: The Father eternally loves the Son and the Son receives that love and returns to the Father, and the Holy Spirit of God binds the Father and the Son in their freedom and love - He goes on to surprise his listeners that, across the universe, subatomic particles communicate at long distances (The Quantum Entanglement) and great galaxies too gravitate to each other...
Fr. Boulad had spoken about the mystery of the Trinity (The communion of love) in 2003 here in Toronto - Here...
In his prayer at Christmas 2019 addressing the crowds and the entire world, Pope Francis asked Baby Jesus the Son of God to bestow "comfort to those who are persecuted for their religious faith, especially missionaries and members of the faithful who have been kidnapped." - Reported in America here
Listen too to Bishop Robert Baron speaking about the Trinity here...He spoke about everything in the cosmos that mirrors the relational character of the Trinity in one God: The Father eternally loves the Son and the Son receives that love and returns to the Father, and the Holy Spirit of God binds the Father and the Son in their freedom and love - He goes on to surprise his listeners that, across the universe, subatomic particles communicate at long distances (The Quantum Entanglement) and great galaxies too gravitate to each other...
Fr. Boulad had spoken about the mystery of the Trinity (The communion of love) in 2003 here in Toronto - Here...
In his prayer at Christmas 2019 addressing the crowds and the entire world, Pope Francis asked Baby Jesus the Son of God to bestow "comfort to those who are persecuted for their religious faith, especially missionaries and members of the faithful who have been kidnapped." - Reported in America here
