God Bent Down

Dr. Kathryn Rombs // Feast Day Celebrations

0 Comments

December 25

Pope Saint Leo the Great (395-461) preached in a sermon on Christmas: “Bending Himself to take on Him our humility without decrease in His own majesty. . .” Leo directs his listeners’ attention to the incredible humility of God, that the Son of God himself would become what he was not, namely, a mere human being, even a newborn infant, and to take it to a further extreme, born in the poverty of a stable and as a foreigner. One can hardly miss the message that God took on our humility.

Leo goes on to lay out the great solution of the Council of Chalcedon (451), that Christ is one Person (the Son of God) with two natures (divine and human). This makes it possible to affirm that the Son of God maintains both divine and human properties, without mixture or confusion: “Without detriment therefore to the properties of either substance which then came together in one person, majesty took on humility, strength, weakness, eternity mortality.”

Leo’s insights, elevated to the level of Church doctrine, has tremendous bearing on mothers. Mothers bend themselves. Have you ever bent over a crib, bent to the floor to pick up an infant, bent over to catch a running toddler?

Mothers humble themselves. Have you ever cleaned up Cheerios off a highchair tray instead of working on a legal case your firm has taken up or prepping your next class? Have you ever sat in the stands to watch your child play instead of being at a conference or watching a Youtube video on how to advance your professional skills? Have you ever given a bottle to a newly adopted baby, wondering if you have what it takes to raise this child whom you do not yet know? Have you ever lay on a delivery table, bleeding and gushing and being poured out, all for love for a creature no one has even yet laid eyes on?

The Church’s dogmatic position about Christ changes everything for mothers. The Son of God is both divine and human, both majestic and humble, both strong and weak, both eternal and mortal. We can say that God became human, that God became weak, that God suffered. If we are one with Christ, then this exchange of attributes may apply to us too. It is the exquisite treasure of all followers of Christ that we get to access God’s fullness even in our emptiness.

Mothers: in your weakness, find God’s power. In your humility, find God’s majesty. In your limitations–your fatigue, your discovering the end of your patience, hope or resilience–find God’s eternal storehouse of divine resources.

Today is Christmas–the Mass of Christ–the solemnity on which we get to exchange our smallness for God’s greatness and find in our very poverty the path to the riches of God.

Proclaim the Genius & Share!

Dr. Kathryn Rombs

I’m Kathryn Rombs, mother of six children and grandmother of one sweet baby girl. I live in Rome with my husband and the three children still under our roof. I am a Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas, where I have taught philosophy off and on for 15 years, most recently last year as an affiliate professor on UD’s Rome Program. While my doctorate is in philosophy, I am currently pursuing an STL in theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. I love Mighty Is Her Call, especially in its lifting up so many Catholic mothers and being a platform for their various talents, messages, charisms and gifts. I love that this ministry is a chance for the Church and world to see more clearly the sacredness of Catholic motherhood. Mothers empty themselves for their loved ones, just as Christ “emptied himself. . . and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-11). It’s a vocation that affords the chance to live a radical Christ-like calling.

Would you like to see Mighty Is Her Call in your inbox?

Subscribe to receive food for the journey! We won't spam you—just two emails a week: blog reflections built to encourage you in your faith and your motherhood, plus occasional catechesis videos and other faith resources. You'll also hear about in-person retreats and new content as it's released.