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The Incarnation

The central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. They say that God became man.
C. S. Lewis

The Incarnation is the ultimate reason why the service of God cannot be divorced from the service of man.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Non-Christians seem to think that the Incarnation implies some particular merit or excellence in humanity. But of course it implies just the reverse: a particular demerit and depravity. No creature that deserved Redemption would need to be redeemed. They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.
C. S. Lewis

The purpose and cause of the incarnation was that He might illuminate the world by His wisdom and excite it to the love of Himself.
Peter Abelard

The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension – above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.
Athanasius of Alexandria

The incarnation is “a kind of vast joke whereby the Creator of the ends of the earth comes among us in diapers Until we too have taken the idea of the God-man seriously enough to be scandalized by it, we have not taken it as seriously as it demands to be taken.
Frederick Buechner

Disguise is central to God’s way of dealing with us human beings. Not because God is playing games with us but because the God who is beyond our knowing makes himself known in the disguise of what we can know. The Christian word for this is revelation, and the ultimate revelation came by incarnation. … God is the master of disguises, in order that we might see.
Richard John Neuhaus

Man’s maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.
Saint Augustine

The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.
Athanasius of Alexandria

Why the Incarnation 4:29
The significance of the Incarnation 5:12
The meaning of the Incarnation Aquinas 101 8:27
On the Incarnation by St Athanasius 2:57
4 Reasons for the Incarnation 7:05
Why did Jesus come? Breaking in the Habit 8:46 great
The case for Jesus Brant Pitre 36:24

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Advent

Advent increases our hope, a hope which does not disappoint. The Lord never lets us down.
Pope Francis

In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.
Frederick Buechner

The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord
Henri Nouwen

The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before … What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.
Jan L. Richardson

Advent: the time to listen for footsteps – you can’t hear footsteps when you’re running yourself.
Bill McKibben

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes…and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I don’t think we’ll understand Advent correctly until we see it as a preparation for a revolution.
Robert Barron

For outlandish creatures like us, on our way to a heart, a brain, and courage, Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning – not home but the place through which we must pass if ever we are to reach home at last.
Frederick Buechner

Advent in 2 minutes Busted Halo 2:08
True meaning of Advent Fr Mike Schmitz 8:26
Advent: Dreaming big Bishop Barron 8:37
Remember Joseph on Advent reflect – Fr Jim Martin – 5:37
The Spiritual Life and Advent Season – Brant Pitre – 4:57
Advent is coming. Are you ready? Breaking in the Habit 5:08
Bishop Barron Spirituality of Advent 5:39
Bishop Barron Advent Revolution 11:00
Fast, Pray, Decorate – Fr Columba – 9:09

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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

Jesus that I know as my Redeemer cannot be less than God.

He (Jesus) became what we are that He might make us what He is.

You cannot put straight in others what is warped in yourself.

You will not see anyone who is truly striving after his spiritual advancement who is not given to spiritual reading.

Even on the cross He did not hide Himself from sight; rather, He made all creation witness to the presence of its Maker.

The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension – above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.

The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.

Athanasius of Alexandria Christian Biographies 12:18
On the Incarnation by St Athanasius 2:57
On the Incarnation, Athanasius of Alexandria
Who was Athanasius? Ryan Reeves 5:16
Early Christian Lives, Athanasius

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St. Anthony the Great

Expect temptation to your last breath.

Regard as free not those whose status makes them outwardly free, but those who are free in their character and conduct. For we should not call men truly free when they are wicked and dissolute, since they are slaves to worldly passions. Freedom and happiness of soul consist in genuine purity and detachment from transitory things.

One should not say that it is impossible to reach a virtuous life; but one should say that it is not easy. Nor do those who have reached it find it easy to maintain.

I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, “What can get through from such snares?” Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Humility.

He also said, “Nine monks fell away after many labors and were obsessed with spiritual pride, for they put their trust in their own works and being deceived they did not give due heed to the commandment that says, ‘Ask your father and he will tell you.'” (Deut. 32.7)

Abba Anthony said, “Whoever hammers a lump of iron, first decides what he is going to make of it, a scythe, a sword, or an axe. Even so we ought to make up our minds what kind of virtue we want to forge or we labor in vain.”

St. Antony of the Desert

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Desert Spirituality

Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.
― Abba Poemen

Abba Zeno said, ‘If a man wants God to hear his prayer quickly, then before he prays for anything else, even his own soul, when he stands and stretches out his hands towards God, he must pray with all his heart for his enemies. Through this action God will hear everything that he asks.’

“As he was dying, Abba Benjamin taught his sons this: Do this, and you’ll be saved: Rejoice always, pray constantly, and in all circumstances give thanks.”

Abba Sisoes said: Seek God and not where God lives.

Without great vigilance a man does not advance in even a single virtue — Abba Ammonas

Monastic Tradition Basil Pennington 35:02
Early Christian Desert Communities Cynthia Bourgeault 8:47
Wisdom of the Desert
Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers
Three Stories from Desert Monks 7:23
St Anthony the Great 9:09
Church Fathers Bishop Barron
The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers
Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward

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In the moments of non-awakening

In the moments of non-awakening
May I be loving, open, and aware in this moment; If I cannot be loving, open, and aware in this moment, may I be kind; If I cannot be kind, may I be nonjudgmental; If I cannot be nonjudgmental, may I not cause harm; If I cannot not cause harm, may I cause the least harm.

-Larry Yang