A few months ago I had the good fortune to return to the Holy Land with a group of religious journalists thanks to Israel Tourism. On that trip, while we were having lunch in Nazareth, we were immersed in a peculiar conversation about the key to Salvation: whether it lay in the Incarnation or in the Resurrection. The truth is that we did not come to any conclusion, probably because we were not the best theologians in the world and, much more likely, because our tight schedule left it half way through.
Since then I have thought a lot about that conversation, perhaps because in reality, God is not satisfied with a single turning point in his love story with man; perhaps because, more and more, I am amazed by the fact that God became flesh and blood.
God man, but for real, with veins, hair, nails and mosquito bites... why? Maybe because otherwise, would we have believed that "this salvation thing" is for you and me?
As Terullian said: "Caro salutis est cardo", "the flesh is the cornerstone of salvation" (De carnis resurrectione, 8, 3: pl 2, 806) and, commenting on this passage, Benedict XVI points out that "Jesus begins to offer himself out of love from the first moment of his human existence in the womb of the Virgin Mary". A turning point: God who becomes an ordinary you.
Yes, we are conditioned (blessed condition) by the flesh, by our limits, by our height and our width... physical and spiritual.
And yet, from this finitude, our longing for eternity makes us capable of saying to the other beloved: "I am dying to be with you". I am dying... "I surrender this finitude until the passing of its eternity", "I cease to be me because you are worth more than me". my solitary self".
To love is to tell the other person not only that he or she is worthwhile, but that he or she is worth living.
When Christ gives himself, when he gives his life -another turning point-, his body, his flesh, he culminates this surrender on the cross. There the new covenant closes, the fourth cup... the same surrender of every Eucharist.
Yes, there was - there is - one who, with all his sense, died for you. Even more, he died to be with you.
Director of Omnes. Degree in Communication, with more than 15 years of experience in Church communication. She has collaborated in media such as COPE or RNE.
