We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

Ever since the Fall, nakedness has been associated with shame.

In the beginning it was not so. St John Paul II reminded us in his catechesis sessions that “Original Man”  was naked without shame.

Consider that the Artist responsible for the beauty of the human body was disrobed at the hands of the descendants of the original “vandals” who introduced shame and caused the body to require covering.

This is not an event peripheral to the Redemptive Act. Rich in its symbolism, this is a stunning reversal of the harm we did. Our Lord reunites dignity and nakedness, and in allowing Himself to be so treated, stands in silent insistence that we were made in His image.

Inviting us to return to intimacy with the Blessed Trinity, Our Lord gives Himself in a gift that is total, down to the very garment on His back, and the flesh that would have been torn off along with it.

Faced with such love beyond measure, how can we not be moved to give our everything (including perhaps our broken hopes and dreams) to Him – love for Love?

By AfterEpiphany.

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