CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3a:

• The Incarnation
• Our Blessed Lady
• Our Lord Jesus Christ
  • 31. Our Lord's Body
  • 32. The Conception of Christ
  • 33. The Mode of Our Lord's Conception
  • 34. The Perfection of Our Lord Before His Birth
  • 35. The Nativity of Christ
  • 36. The Manifestation of the New-Born Christ
  • 37. Legal Observances Regarding the Christ Child
  • 38. The Baptism of St. John the Baptist
  • 39. The Baptizing of Christ by St. John the Baptist
  • 40. Our Lord's Life
  • 41. The Temptation in the Desert
  • 42. The Preaching of Christ
  • 43. The Miracles of Christ: In General
  • 44. Miracles of Christ: In Particular
  • 45. The Transfiguration
  • 46. The Passion of Christ
  • 47. The Effecting Cause of the Passion
  • 48. The Efficacy of the Passion of Christ
  • 49. Actual Effects of the Passion of Christ
  • 50. The Death of Our Lord
  • 51. The Burial of Our Lord
  • 52. The Descent Into Hell
  • 53. The Resurrection
  • 54. The Risen Christ
  • 55. The Manifestation of the Risen Christ
  • 56. Causal Power of the Resurrection
  • 57. The Ascension
  • 58. Our Lord at the Father's Right Hand
  • 59. Our Lord's Power as Judge
• The Sacraments in General
• Baptism
• Confirmation
• The Holy Eucharist
• Penance

32. The Conception of Christ

1. The whole Trinity effected the conception of ourLord's body. But in a special way the conception is attributedto the Holy Ghost. For Christ came because of God's great lovefor mankind. Scripture says (John 3:16): "God so loved theworld as to give his only-begotten son." Hence, it is rightthat the conception of our Lord should be attributed to the Spiritof Love, that is, God the Holy Ghost.

2. We rightly say that Christ was conceived of the HolyGhost. This suggests that the Holy Ghost is the active principle ofthe conceiving, and also that the One conceived is consubstantialwith its active principle.

3. However, it is not right to say that the Holy Ghost isthe father of Christ. St. Augustine (Enchir. xl) says,"Christ was born of the Holy Ghost, not as a son; he was bornof Mary as a son." In his eternal personality, Christ is theSon of God by the eternal generation of the Father. He, therefore,is eternally the Son of God; he was not made the Son of God bybecoming man under the active power of the Holy Ghost.

4. In the conceiving of Christ, the Blessed Mother had noactive part to play beyond cooperating by giving consent thatGod's willshould be accomplished in her. And Mary didcooperate in God's will and work: "Be it done to me,"she said to the angelic messenger, "according to thyword."

"The greatest glory we can give to God is to do his will in everything."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

* * *

"It is not God's will that we should abound in spiritual delights, but that in all things we should submit to his holy will."
Blessed Henry Suso

* * *

"Spiritual persons ought to be equally ready to experience sweetness and consolation in the things of God, or to suffer and keep their ground in drynesses of spirit and devotion, and for as long as God pleases, without their making any complaint about it."
St Philip Neri

* * *

Copyright