The Incarnation illumines the mystery of the Resurrection

Through the archangel Gabriel, the eternal Word of God, who pre-existed his parents from all eternity, simply asked Mary if she would welcome him.

Let us meditate on the resemblance between the way in which the Son of God took on the soul and body of a man in his mother's womb and the way in which, on Easter morning, he rose from his tomb. It was in great silence and without breaking in, that a body suddenly became filled with life, and that a tomb suddenly became empty, emptied of a corpse that had become alive again.

My bishop once wrote to his flock in Cambrai: "I love this God who, in two swift moves, surprises us with some humor in two areas we think we know best: a virgin is not supposed to give birth, and a dead person is not supposed to leave his tomb. But God makes it happen, and does so without casting doubt on the chaste relationship between the spouses, or on the stark reality of physical death. 

The greater mystery of the Incarnation sheds a light on the mystery of the Resurrection. 

Similarly, we should be less amazed at the mysterious transformation that takes place on the altar, when the bread suddenly becomes the body of Christ, if we remembered how he was formed in an instant in his mother's womb. The mystery of the Eucharist is an extension of the mystery of the Incarnation, as it allows Christ to fulfill the deepest desire of his loving Heart, which is to dwell in the most intimate part of our being and to pour into it his treasures of tenderness.

Father Pierre Descouvemont

Adapted and translated from an article in the French magazine Famille Chrétienne, March 2016