My Evolving Understanding of Incarnation

Henrietta Adindu, SHCJ

RE-SOURCE #1 — February 2 – May 23, 2023

So many gifts from our SHCJ heritage and lived experiences speak to me about our incarnational spirituality . . . . .

for example, our hymn that I love so much:

“Thou who was rich beyond all splendour, all for love’s sake, became man…”

In our Constitutions we quote 1 Corinthians 16: 14

“Let everything you do, be done in love” Love summarises our Incarnational Spirituality. It was love of humanity that led to the incarnation of the second person of the triune God.

Over the years I have grown to understand more deeply that Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human. Sometimes we forget that second part; the humanity of Jesus, which is what the incarnation is all about. In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius Loyola encouraged what he called the “prayer of consideration,” which invites us to contemplate the human experience of Jesus of Nazareth.

For the past twenty years or so my ministry has included to a large extent leading people into more intimate relationship with the incarnate God through the 30-days retreat of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. It was indeed a most touching experience to have the opportunity to actually visit the cave at Manresa in Spain where Ignatius spent nearly a year writing the Spiritual Exercises, over five hundred years ago.

The grace of the second week of the Spiritual Exercises invites the exercitant to know Jesus intimately in his humanity, to love him more intensely, and to follow him more closely. The exercitants consider the two standards and make daily conscious choices for Christ, for love; try to enter into the vision of God looking upon our messed-up world with compassion and out of love the second person of the trinity became human to show us the way.

How did Jesus live daily?

How did Jesus live from the crib to the cross?

How do we like Jesus live out the reality of the incarnation?

I invite us to daily consider the Prayer of Saint Richard of Chichester and perhaps make it your own.

Thanks be to thee my Lord Jesus Christ, for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me, O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly day by day. Amen.

“Bread Broken for All”

by Gloria Okoh, SHCJ

RE-SOURCE #1 — February 2 – May 27, 2023

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, ‘Take this, and eat it. This is my body.’ ” Matthew 26:6

At the beginning of my formation, my understanding and experience of incarnation was that of God becoming human for my sake.

As I advance in the spirituality and understanding of the life I have chosen as an SHCJ, I have this to say about the image that spoke to me in the inter-province conversation, and continues to draw me now:

Incarnation speaks to me in the image of the Broken Bread. Jesus is Bread Broken for all (Sacrifice). Love leads to such sacrifice; without LOVE, there will be no SACRIFICE.

“Bread for the World” by Bernadette Farrell, from Journeysongs 3rd edition, OCP, 2012 CLICK ABOVE

“Bread to Share” by Marty Haugen, from All Are Welcome, Christian, 1995

Therefore, I am called to LOVE, to be BROKEN FOR OTHERS and to SACRIFICE. I ask myself and all who will read this, the question asked by St Thérèse of the Child Jesus:

“How do I treat the vulnerable, especially, those in my communities.”

WE ARE THE BODY of CHRIST— Reflections by Emmanuella Akweongo, Louise Ayirah & Mary Lawrence SHCJ

RE-SOURCE #1 — February 2 – May 27, 2023

All CLICKS are up above this page

“St

“We

What speaks to me about our incarnational spirituality is that I am called to be that embodiment of Christ here on earth. I am supposed to be the Christ incarnate to myself and others wherever I find myself.

Louisa Ayirah, SHCJ

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world ... the feet with which he walks to do good ... the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands... the feet ... the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

St. Teresa of Avila

Now you are

CLICK: Video Reflection LIVING INCARNATION

We have already been configured through our Baptism into another Christ Child, and so I make a conscious effort to imitate him by being child-like in my thoughts, words and actions. For me, being child-like means consciously living out simplicity in lifestyle and dressing, spending with prudence and sensitivity to the needy around me, accountability in tasks given, contentment with what I have and what is or is not provided for me, trusting absolutely in God’s providence, honesty and integrity in my personal life as well as in my interactions with people of diverse socio-cultural and religious backgrounds.

Mary Lawrence, SHCJ