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The Mystery of the Incarnation and the Snares of Heresy

Today, nine months before Holy Christmas, we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We recall that moment when the Archangel Gabriel arrived at the house of the Immaculate Virgin in Nazareth to announce that she was to become the Mother of the Son of God—that she was to give birth to the Messiah, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. On this feast, therefore, we bow before the Mystery of the Incarnation. We contemplate this mystery of God assuming human nature.

And because the state of catechetical knowledge among Catholics today—including those so-called traditionalists—is deplorable, it is worthwhile that we realize what actually took place over 2,000 years ago in Nazareth. My dearly beloved, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, possessing the same Divine Essence as the Father and the Holy Spirit, assumed human nature. He assumed it in such a way that it was united with the Divine Nature in one Person.

Unfortunately, among many "so-called" Catholics, a certain erroneous, completely heretical conception persists. Our Lord Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man. He was not a demigod or a half-man. In one Person, in Jesus Christ, two natures were united on the basis of the so-called hypostatic union: the Divine and the human. Something inconceivable, something extraordinary! For behold, while remaining the immortal God, He simultaneously assumed a mortal human nature. While remaining the Almighty God, He simultaneously assumed our weak, limited human nature.
The Assaults of the Devil: From Persecution to Heresy

This Mystery of the Incarnation, like the Mystery of the Redemption, is particularly hated by the Devil and his servants. From the very beginning, it was attacked in a special way.

    The First Three Centuries: the Faith was attacked mainly through physical, bloody persecutions by Roman pagan rulers.

    The Edict of Milan: When the Church obtained freedom, the Devil changed tactics. Since three centuries of blood failed to destroy the Faith, he began to attack the mind, seeking to poison it with heresy.

The first great heresy was Arianism, created by the priest Arius. He claimed that our Lord was not true God, but merely an eminent man—an "adopted" Son of God endowed with graces, but remaining only a man. This strikes at the very foundation of the Trinity. This Arian thought is widespread today among post-conciliar Catholics. Even recently, we heard from the mouth of Bergoglio in an interview that Jesus of Nazareth, even if a man of exceptional virtue, was not God. This is nothing other than Arianism.
On the Sacrifice and the "Chaplet of Divine Mercy"

This misunderstanding extends to the Redemption. Many believe that Jesus died on the Cross "as God." But in His Divine Nature, He could never die; God cannot be put to death. On Good Friday, Christ died only and exclusively in His human nature.

In this context, we must mention the problems associated with the so-called "Chaplet of Divine Mercy" by Sister Faustina. Specifically the prayer: "Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity..." There are two serious theological reservations here:

    The Nature of Sacrifice: To "offer" something in a strict religious sense implies destruction or immolation (like the burnt offerings of the Old Testament). Divinity cannot be annihilated or destroyed. To suggest otherwise implies Christ had a "lesser" kind of divinity.

    Possession: You cannot offer someone something they already possess. Christ cannot offer the Father His Divinity because the Divine Nature of the Son and the Father is one and the same.

The Error of Monophysitism

Another heresy was Monophysitism, which claimed that Christ had only a Divine nature, His humanity being swallowed up by His divinity. While it sounds "pious," error is never good. If Christ were not truly man, His suffering on the Cross would have been merely an illusion—an appearance. If He did not truly suffer, there was no Redemptive sacrifice.
A Warning to Traditionalists

This is a grave warning for all the faithful, including traditionalists who have a tendency to "improve" the Church's teaching based on some false revelation or self-invented prayer. Improving the Church leads to heresy. We must keep the rules the Church has established, not find our own "pious" path.

On this Feast of the Annunciation, let us renew our faith. Let us realize the great miracle of God’s self-abasement—a humiliation that leads from Nazareth to the death of the Cross on Good Friday. Let us fall to our knees and pay homage to the Word made Flesh for our salvation.

Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.