More Christian Paradoxes for Meditation
More Christian Paradoxes for Meditation
Meditation
Paradoxes are so powerful because they arrest our thought. The apparent contradiction stops us, forcing us to reflect and consider the truth below the surface. We should not, therefore, be surprised to find Christianity full of such paradoxes; perhaps, like God Himself, the paradoxes are infinite.
Three is One
The central mystery of our faith, the Blessed Trinity, tells us that we have only One God, in Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. No human analogy or equation can explain this to us.
God became Man; the immaterial God became incarnate
God and man have an infinite distance between them, and yet we are told both combined in one person; God, Who is pure spirit, came to Earth and became flesh. He was true God and true Man, fully both, and somehow unmixed; He did not relinquish His divinity while being fully human.
A creature gave birth to the Creator
How could a mere woman, perfect woman though she is, give birth to the One who created her? Yet, if Our Lord was true God as well as true man, the conclusion is inescapable.
Virginity is fruitful
St. Louis de Montfort tells us that one who lives his or her life entirely devoted to God, as the Virgin Mary did, will “bear Christ” and bring Him to the world. Virgin religious living a chaste life bring about conversions by their example, but also by their life of deep prayer; through their unknown sacrifices God draws more of His children closer.
Virgin and Child with Four Saints, tapestry c. 1495. The fruit tree is a symbol of the Virgin. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Poverty is wealth
Christ tells us: “Blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20) and “Lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal” (Matthew 6:20). Those who are attached to and dependent upon the material world will one day lose it all; but those who detach themselves from the world and store up spiritual goods will be forever wealthy in Heaven.
Slavery is freedom; or, slavery in Christ is greater freedom than the freedom of the world
St. Paul calls himself the “slave of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1). Our freedom consists in submitting ourselves entirely to God. In slavery to Christ, we are free to be and to love as God created us, not trapped by injury, sin, or any earthly shackle. This was a lesson learned by the prodigal son, whose apparent freedom to do what he wished ended in poverty and servitude.
