God takes a dip in our pool

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

The mystery and wonder of the Incarnation - which we celebrate at Christmas - and its meaning for us has something in common with swimming.

Go to a swimming pool some time and watch the people who are going to take a dip.

Some come to the pool's edge and dive right in. Others sit on the edge of the pool and dangle their feet in the water and get accustomed to it until they eventually lower themselves completely in. Still others come slowly down the ladder in the shallow end and slowly - sometimes extremely slowly - work their way into deeper and deeper water until they, too, are completely immersed.

The type of swimmer a person is probably has a lot to say about which of those images they see mirrored in the Incarnation when God, through the Second Person of the Trinity, became totally immersed in humanity.

One could argue that God just dove right in on Christmas, became human and moved on.

Or one could say God sat on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water - the Annunciation to the Blessed Mother - and then went completely into the water on Christmas.

Or one could say God did it even more gradually, starting after the Fall, trying several different ways of working with humanity - gradually wading in as it were - until finally becoming totally immersed on Christmas.

However one chooses to look at it doesn't matter in the end. Whichever way one goes swimming - suddenly, gradually or slowly - eventually requires being completely immersed. What really matters is that God chose to become one of us, to become totally immersed in humanity and in so doing put the divine seal of approval on humans and the human experience. God then invites us to do the same through our total immersion in faith and the waters of baptism.

The world has never been the same since the day God went swimming. Merry Christmas!