30 Oct 2015
There’s the saying that “freedom isn’t free.” And it’s true. We’ve all heard the stories (or lived the
stories) of people leaving the comfort of home and to fight in order to secure
that comfort and peace. Whether it’s in
wartime, or in politics, or in the practice of the faith, freedom and peace
come with a price.
We hear St Paul say that, if it would help his people to
return to God, he would gladly be “accursed and cut off from Christ.” He’s willing to sacrifice the comfort of knowing
Christ if it’ll help others. That’s a
pretty big sacrifice.
But parents can relate to this idea of “doing with less” for
the good of their children. Leaders of
people can relate to that when they give up their private lives for the good of
others; when they leave themselves vulnerable to attack and ridicule in order
to protect the common good.
And we see this in our Lord.
But I don’t mean in the sacrifice of the Cross; I mean in the sacrifice
of the Incarnation. The Son of God left the bosom of God the Father, he came
down from heaven—from the
unimaginable glory of perfect love, perfect harmony, perfect union—he left that comfortable and glorious place
in order to lift us up into that place.
What a sacrifice of love it was for the Word of God to leave
heaven and come to earth. Freedom is
never free. And the cost of our
salvation and freedom began to be paid way back when Jesus was born in a manger
in Bethlehem; when the Word of God left
heaven to dwell among us. Thanks be
to God who took on flesh—and continues to take on Flesh in the Eucharist—in order
to set us free.
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