The Still-Point of the Turning World

The Incarnation of the Son of God changes everything, especially the way we speak about morality. Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, is the divine presence in the world. He is the center, the constant, upon which all activity, both divine and human, turn.

Because God became man in Jesus Christ, he has become for humanity both the Source of moral goodness and the exemplar of that goodness. He is life's Source and Definition. There is nothing possible to add when fullness is already present.

What is Christian morality, then? It is the imitation of the virtues of Christ.

As theologian Romanus Cessario wrote, "The doctrine of the Incarnation stipulates that the individual human nature of the incarnate Logos remains the principal agent of divine action in the world."

Jesus alone is the standard of human life. He is the measure, the rule, the canon of living our human life in its fullness and properly ordered to its perfection. The Incarnation changes the answer to the ancient human questions about life:

How do I live the good life?

How am I to be happy?

How do I live morally in the world?

There is only one answer: sequela Christi, follow Christ. He alone is the path to human happiness.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation... He is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell. -Colossians 1:15, 19