St. Alphonsus on the True Beauty of the Incarnation (Ken & Janelle)

Welcome to today’s Advent reflection for Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent! We’re diving into St. Alphonsus’ daily sermons and reflecting on the profound truths they reveal, especially about the beauty and mystery of the Incarnation. 

Transcript

welcome back today is Wednesday of the second week of Advent we're so happy to have you and we are continuing to examine St Alphonsus' daily sermons sharing with you what's stood out to us and why before we get there just want to say thank you to our monthly supporters who allow us to show up and do this regularly um we're very grateful for your support and if there's anyone that would like to join our support team we are in need uh we can't show up regularly and commit to you without people committing to us and so we'd be very grateful uh for that consideration if you haven't noticed all our videos are free and that is because of our monthly Financial supporters and so thank you for those who support us and if you'd like to join that team uh you could head over to kel.com we'd be very grateful now regarding St Alphonsus is uh sermons for today you had a general observation me oh yes so um if you're someone who's actually reading the readings which anyone is welcome to do um currently he's really kind of diving into the religious vocation um for like sisters priests and he talks about you know living in the community life and um so maybe some of you are feeling like this doesn't really apply to my life especially if you're a lay person perhaps you're married with children but I think there's always a lot that we can learn from because he talks about like living the virtue of obedience or um the different vows that that these people take but how can we apply some of this to our own life um but it was just sort of joking because sometimes he makes it sound really appealing you know living in The Cloister and the joy and the beauty of you know living in that community life and sometimes to be honest I long for that the silence the silence just the the time set aside for prayer um you know I try to do that myself here in our home but at the same time it's like they get to do ours of prayer the when is the only silence you get is when you're sleeping or in the back bathroom even that is sometimes very challenging dad are you in there no dad is that you no it's your

mom so anyhow um that's just sort of what I wanted to mention okay quote from St Alphonsus if God had created a thousand other worlds a thousand times greater and more beautiful than the present it is certain that this work would be infinitely less Grand than the Incarnation of the word so have you ever been to a place and thought man that was absolutely beautiful Grand I feel like I've been blessed to be in uh in many different places in the world where it just I was just that of the beauty of of what I saw um I think of some of the times that we went to the Rocky Mountains and Hike uh the waterfalls or the mountaintops just uh Incredible or some of the beautiful beaches I've been privileged to see just through travel on the east coast of Canada but also the West we had a chance to go to Prince Edward Island uh was speaking out there for the cwl National Convention in Janelle and I went out there that is a gorgeous place I remember one time also I was speaking on the east coast of Canada and I drove onto Cape Breton Island a place that I'd always wanted to go to and I I don't know what happened I just I it was so beautiful when I saw it for the first time I screamed in Delight now I understand that some people might not be able to relate with that but it was just so beautiful I just couldn't contain myself it was just like this this sigh this expression of Wonder and awe of what God had has done and I think and I you've talked about this you know you don't quite understand why I get so worked up about some of these things right yeah I definitely don't share the same uh reactions to things sometimes I think it's a a gift of Wonder and awe that God has blessed me with and I'm grateful for and so when I look at all these beautiful things and I know that you've probably seen beautiful beautiful places in the world we should remember that this is a shadow of the beauty of God and St Alphonsus is making the point particularly of the Incarnation that that movement of God him taking upon a human nature is a thousand times more beautiful than everything that we could imagine or a thousand times more Beau than a thousand worlds out there and that's just useful to contemplate and to think about because sometimes we God is

boring is beauty boring I don't think so and not that God is there to entertain us but simply by his nature he's not boring and so if we ever find ourselves it's a boring faith God is boring no think about these beautiful things that you've seen in the world and then realize these are just little Shadows of the beauty of God and even little Shadows of the beauty that is shown forth just in the Incarnation St Alphonsus says to execute the great work of the Incarnation it required all the omnipotence and infinite wisdom of God in order to unite human nature to a Divine person and that a Divine person should so humble himself as to take upon himself human nature when I think of the Incarnation two adjectives come to my mind big and small God does a big thing and he does a small thing start with the small thing the small thing maybe is a little bit more obvious God who is infinite and all powerful all knowing takes on a human nature and one sense he becomes small by becoming one of us and he experiences hunger and thirst and he his his his physical life is dependent upon Mary to look after him and to feed him as a little baby but through doing something by becoming small he does something really big and that is open up the way of Salvation to Mankind through the Incarnation thought of a story uh about a surgeon named Dr Richard Celler and he was performing the surgery on this young girl and he had to cut a nerve in her face to get to a tumor that he was removing and the outcome of cutting that nerve was that it left her her face her smile crooked and he was wondering how her young husband would react when the young man walked into the room room he looked at his wife and he made a a light-hearted joke about her new look then he came forward he bent down tilted his head and gave her a kiss perfectly aligning his lips with

hers and in one sense God Has Come forward to us in the Incarnation he is bent down taking upon himself a human nature perfectly aligning himself with our weaknesses and our Brokenness due to sin though he had no sin and in doing so he kisses Humanity with love and with grace through the Incarnation let us pray by your grace I now feel great sorrow for the offenses I have committed against you I feel within me an Ardent desire of loving you I feel fully resolved to lose everything rather than your friendship I feel a love towards you that makes me abhor everything that displeases you and this sorrow this desire this resolution and this love who is it that gives them to me it is you oh Lord in your great Mercy therefore my Jesus this is a proof that you have pardoned me it is a proof that now you love me and that you will me at all costs to be saved you will that I should be saved and I will save myself principally to give you pleasure you love me and I also love you but my love is little indeed oh give me more love you deserve more love for me for I I have received from you more special favors than others I pray you do increase the Flames of my love amen [Music]