My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

In the Carmina Gadelica, a collection of Celtic oral tradition, one old woman is recorded as saying, " When the image of the God of life is born into the world, I put three drops of water on the child's forehead." Those three drops of water are what she calls "the birth-baptism" which precedes the baptism of the church. It is a private, but symbolic act that acknowledges this child as a gift of God who will live "shielded, surrounded and succoured" by God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I was reminded of those words as I held our grandchild a few hours after his birth on 4 October. At 3.3kg, Finlay is as beautiful and as perfectly formed as any child could ever hope to be. But whether perfectly formed or not he is, as is every child, a testimony to God's continued confidence in humankind and in whom the face of Christ is made visible yet again.

As I gazed down on this tiny scrap of humanity, I felt my heart overflow with love for this child. That love welled up unbidden and overflowed on one who, since he had shown no inclination to be born and had not participated with much enthusiasm in the whole birthing process, had done nothing to justify such love. And therein lies the mystery of love, that pale reflection of God's love; it is pure gift. We cannot force it, we cannot really fake it; true love - like God's love - is the unconditional giving of one's self to the other for no obvious or apparent reason. It says, "I am here for you."

Henri Nouwen, in his book, "The Inner Voice of Love," talks of setting boundaries to our love. Boundaries, he says, are vital if we are not going to end up exhausted, used and manipulated. I am sure that boundaries are important (which is why we have promoted the Boundaries Course), but I am equally sure that boundaries are the antithesis of unconditional love. It may well be that, as humans, we are not capable of wholly unconditional love and it may also be that, as humans, there is a limit to the number of people we can even attempt to love unconditionally, but as I watch my daughter and son-in-law with this child who has turned their world upside down and altered it forever, I see something of the unconditional love of God. I see it in a love that meets his never-ending demands even though desperately needing sleep; a love that keeps giving despite the lack of any acknowledgement or appreciation (even his smiles at this stage are only wind); a love that says, "I am here for you."

The great theologian of Syria, Ephraim of Edessa, in one of his poems speaks of the unconditional love of God that gives without reserve, and gives of himself so completely that Mary becomes the place where God himself is transformed. He writes:-

Your mother's womb has reversed all roles;
The Creator of all entered in his richness, but came forth poor;
The Exalted One entered her, but came forth meek;
The Magnificent One entered her, and came forth in a lowly hue;
The Mighty One entered, and put on insecurity;
The Provider for all entered, and experienced hunger
He who gives drink to all entered, and experienced thirst;
Naked and stripped He came forth from her, the One who clothes all.

That is the miracle of Incarnation. It is also, in its own way, the wonder of each new birth in which "the image of the God of life is born into the world," shielded, surrounded and succoured by the unconditional love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

May we all know and rejoice in the unconditional love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

+Brian

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