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Office Of Readings | Christmas Octave | 1st January | A Reading From A Letter Of Saint Athanasius | The Word Took Our Nature From Mary
‘The Word took our nature from Mary.’
In this reading, Saint Athanasius explains why it was necessary for the Word of God to take a true human body from Mary. Athenasius begins by citing the teaching of the Apostle: the Word took on the descendants of Abraham and became like his brothers in all things. This likeness required a real human body, not an appearance or a substitute.
Mary’s role is therefore essential. She provides the Word with a body that truly belongs to him and can be offered for our sake. Athanasius points to the details recorded in Scripture — birth, swaddling clothes, nursing, and sacrifice — to show that the Word entered fully into human life. Even the words spoken by the angel Gabriel are significant, emphasising that the child was born from Mary, not introduced into her from outside.
The purpose of this assumption of human nature is salvation. By taking our nature and offering it, the Word destroys corruption and clothes humanity with his own life. Athanasius connects this with Saint Paul’s teaching that what is corruptible must put on incorruption, and what is mortal must put on immortality.
Athanasius is careful to reject any idea that this was only an outward appearance. Christ truly became man, and salvation is therefore real and complete. It does not concern the body alone, nor the soul alone, but the whole human person. What is achieved in Christ applies to humanity as a whole.
Because Mary is human, and shares the same origin as all people, the body taken from her is the same as ours. When Scripture says that the Word was made flesh, it means that human nature itself has been united to the Word. Through this union, the human body is transformed: from mortal to immortal, from earthly to heavenly.
Finally, Athanasius affirms that the incarnation does not alter the Trinity. The Word’s taking flesh from Mary does not change the divine nature. The Trinity remains perfect and undivided, and the one God is confessed and proclaimed in the Church.
A Reading From A Letter Of Saint Athanasius | The Word Took Our Nature From Mary
The Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she is to provide him with a body of his own, to be offered for our sake. Scripture records her giving birth, and says: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Her breasts, which fed him, were called blessed. Sacrifice was offered because the child was her firstborn. Gabriel used careful and prudent language when he announced his birth. He did not speak of ‘what will be born in you’ to avoid the impression that a body would be introduced into her womb from outside; he spoke of ‘what will be born from you’, so that we might know by faith that her child originated within her and from her.
By taking our nature and offering it in sacrifice, the Word was to destroy it completely and then invest it with his own nature, and so prompt the Apostle to say: This corruptible body must put on incorruption; this mortal body must put on immortality.
This was not done in outward show only, as some have imagined. This is not so. Our Saviour truly became man, and from this has followed the salvation of man as a whole. Our salvation is in no way fictitious, nor does it apply only to the body. The salvation of the whole man, that is, of soul and body, has really been achieved in the Word himself.
What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body: It was a true body because it was the same as ours. Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.
The words of St John, the Word was made flesh, bear the same meaning, as we may see from a similar turn of phrase in St Paul: Christ was made a curse for our sake. Man’s body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word. From being mortal it has been made immortal; though it was a living body it has become a spiritual one; though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven.
Even when the Word takes a body from Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. It is forever perfect. In the Trinity we acknowledge one Godhead, and thus one God, the Father of the Word, is proclaimed in the Church.
Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ
God our Father,
you sent your eternal Word
to take our nature from Mary
for the salvation of the whole human person.
Grant that we may live in the hope
of the immortality promised in Christ,
and confess with faith
the mystery of the Word made flesh,
one with you and the Holy Spirit,
forever and ever.
Amen
Glossary Of Christian Terms
The Word | The Son of God, through whom all things were made.
Incarnation | The taking of human nature by the Son of God.
Mary | The mother of Jesus, from whom he took his human body.
Corruption and incorruption | The mortality of human life and the immortality given through Christ.
True body | The real human body assumed by Christ, the same in nature as ours.
Trinity | The one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Salvation of the whole man | The redemption of both soul and body through Christ.
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