GRAPHIC 4
BANNER
CHRIST THE SAVIOR
BASED ON THE WRITINGS OF THE SUMMA OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
FOR THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
BY FRS. WALTER FARRELL AND MARTIN HEALY

3. THE PROFOUND MYSTERY OF ONE PERSON IN CHRIST WITH TWO NATURES

Because there is only one Person in Christ, and because that Person exists and acts in two natures, one human, one Divine, it follows that all the actions of both natures can be and must be attributed to the same one Person. It is the person, not the nature, which is the responsible agent. Hence, we can say of Christ that He created the world; that He performed miracles by His own power; that He is immortal and Eternal; and on the other hand, that He ate, drank, slept, suffered, died, rose again and ascended into Heaven.

Surely this is a profound mystery. We cannot hope to understand it until we see it clearly in the vision of God. We cannot positively understand how it is possible for God to assume to Himself a human nature. We even find difficulty in seeking to understand how the human nature of Christ can exist without a human personality. But this is a mystery revealed to us by God Himself. With the humility of faith, we submit our own minds to the infinite wisdom and truth of God. because God has revealed this sublime truth to us, we know that it is possible for the Son of God to assume to Himself a human nature without a human personality. because God has said so, we know that this staggering possibility is an actual fact, a consoling fact. For, if God has so loved men that he sent His only-begotten Son into the world as Man, then surely God's love can raise man up to the unfathomable happiness of the vision of God.

In many ways, as we have already seen, it was fitting that the Son of God should assume a human nature, in fact it was more fitting for Him to assume a human nature than any other kind of nature. From the point of view of dignity, it is fitting that the Son of God, Who is the absolute perfection of Divine Knowledge, Who is the Divine Intellect, and should assume to Himself a nature that is also rational and intellectual. Again, even though the Angels are also intellectual beings, it was more fitting that God should become Man [not become a man], because man needed salvation and could be saved, whereas the evil angels, the devils, could not be saved, and the good Angels do not need redemption.


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