Choose a topic from Part 3a:
1. St. Gregory (Moral. xviii) says: "As soonas the angel announced it, as soon as the Spirit came down, theWord was in the womb . . . was made flesh." The body assumedby the Word must be a body perfectly formed. Nor was it formedpreviously to the Annunciation and held in readiness to be assumed.It was formed and assumed in the same instant, the instant in whichMary assented to the divine Will, saying, "Be it done to meaccording to thy word." In that instant, "the Word wasmade flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).
2. At the very instant that Christ was conceived, therational and spiritual human soul animated his body.{-Recall St. Thomas's theory that the ordinaryprocess of conception puts the conceived matter through twopre-human stages, vegetal and sentient. This, he here asserts, wasnot the case in the conception of our Lord.-}
3. Our Lord's body was not first conceived andafterwards assumed by the Word of God. It began to exist at theprecise moment in which it was assumed.
4. Our Lord's conception, in its active producingprinciple, was entirely miraculous and supernatural.
"The greatest glory we can give to God is to do his will in everything."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you."
Thomas á Kempis
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"God has no need of men."
St Philip Neri
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