Fleshiness.

Y'know, I think one of the biggest obstacles I've ever had with living a spiritual life is that all of my prayers and devotions have always tended toward the 'fleshy' side of the faith. The first thing I learned as an anglo-catholic is the importance of seeing catholicism as an incarnational religion. Everything in prayer, worship, and the spiritual life is a reflection of the great mystery of God becoming man, and as a newly minted Christian, I was totally and completely wrapped up in amazement at that mystery. And so were my devotions: The Sacred Heart, The Five Wounds, Christ in his passion, Our Lady of Sorrows, St.Joseph, and Mary as Mother of God. These were and are my favourite devotions and subjects for prayer.

I think it probably has a lot to do with my personal life. It's easier for me to connect with God, the Trinity, by using these profoundly real and human means. It's one thing to say that God became man. It's another to say that God cried, God had to be fed, to learn how to walk, to talk, to feed himself, to read. It's one thing to say that Mary was the mother of God. It's another to say that she taught him, loved him, wept for three days over losing him, stood proud as he grew, and suffered in silence as he died. It's one thing to say that Our Lord Jesus had a real, human family. It's another to say that he grew up working in his foster father's trade, helping his mother, suffered seeing his foster father die, and saw his mother sorrowing interior at his own death.

It all says that God is Real, and he intervened in human history, lived a real life. Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh was a real man. He had wounds. He had a heart. He had a mother. And ot some extent, devotion to these human attributes is essentially devotion to the divine. Because there is only one Christ. He is'nt split into a divine half and a human half. He is one person of two natures.It's really all very beautiful. Christ is the image of the father, the brightness of his glory. He is the one by whom we know the Father. And how was he known on earth?