The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	We are in the season of the Incarnation, the mystery of God’s love poured out in Christ’s birth. The word derives from the Latin carnis meaning “flesh.” Throughout history, some Christians have distrusted the “flesh,” and stressed a hatred of this world and its pleasures. Perhaps they have not paid enough attention to how “embodied” the sacraments are. One third-century author put it plainly in an image that may alarm diet‑conscious Americans, explaining that we wash the body so the soul can be cleansed, that we anoint the body so the soul can be strengthened, and that we eat the body and blood of Christ so that “the soul can fatten on God.”
	Catholics “get” that God is revealed in this world. The sacraments use the “stuff” of creation: water and oil; the senses of the body, touch and taste and smell. We use the things of this world rightly. After all, God’s love poured out into human flesh means the world has eternal value. Why else would Jesus describe the kingdom to come as a teeming city or a marriage banquet? Catholics are realists, and nowhere is that more evident than when we gather for a sacrament.
—Rev. James Field