In giving life to Him she was giving Him death.
All other children born must inevitably die; death belongs to fallen nature; the mother's gift to the child is life.
But Christ is Life; death did not belong to Him.
In fact, unless Mary would give Him death, He could not die.
Unless she would give Him the capacity for suffering, He could not suffer.
He could only feel cold and hunger and thirst if she gave Him her vulnerability to cold and hunger and thirst.
He could not know the indifference of friends or treachery or the bitterness of being betrayed unless she gave Him a human mind and a human heart.
That is what it meant to Mary to give human nature to God.
He was invulnerable; He asked her for a body to be wounded.
He was joy itself; He asked her to give Him tears.
He was God; He asked her to make Him man.
He asked for hands and feet to be nailed.
He asked for flesh to be scourged.
He asked for blood to be shed.
He asked for a heart to be broken.
The stable at Bethlehem was the first Calvary.
The wooden manger was the first Cross.
The swaddling band were the first burial bands.
The Passion had begun.
Christ was man.
–Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God
A Christmas Caryll (5)
5 responses to “A Christmas Caryll (5)”
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This quote, particularly the first part, may be my favorite Houselander quote. Of course, I have several favorites. 😉
AMDG -
As you can probably guess, I’ve just been browsing in both these books, and this passage really jumped out at me.
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I wrote about this quote here: http://thethreeprayers.blogspot.com/2012/03/fourth-stationjesus-meets-his.html
It’s the ultimate in humility, isn’t it? We want to give our children the best of what we have and this is what He asked of her.
AMDG -
I was somewhat relieved to see that you didn’t actually quote the passage in that post–relieved that I hadn’t previously read it and totally forgotten it. I did more or less remember the post.
Yes, I guess it is.
It’s especially the fourth sentence in the passage as quoted above that struck me most powerfully, even more on the intellectual level than the emotional. I had never thought about it that way. -
Yes.
AMDG
Light On Dark Water 
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