By nature we are creatures, and not divine. We are the result of the creative action of God, a work that theologians describe as a work ad extra common to the three persons of the Trinity. But we cannot stop here without failing to miss the exciting way in which we participate in the divine life, not by nature, but by love.

It happens like this. The humanity of Jesus, itself, is a creation common to the three persons of the Trinity, and thus a work ad extra, but at the very moment that the humanity of Jesus is being created, it is being drawn to the Word. This drawing to the Word gives it a special character. The Word receives not only a human nature, but gives that human nature an entity of union that elevates it to be precisely the humanity of the Word. The humanity of the Word is this humanity in relationship to the Father and the Spirit. In short, we are now faced with the humanity that has a trinitarian character.

This humanity also has a special character from the point of view of the human race. The humanity of the Word now becomes the new center of the human race. We are no longer only creatures, but enter into the life of the Trinity, itself.

While the humanity of Jesus can have no personality in the absolute meaning of the term, but its personality is the personality of the Word, it is a transformed humanity due to its union with the Word. This is a humanity that is completely open to the Trinity so its entire thrust is to bring itself into alignment with the Trinity.

The Jesus of the Gospels presents us with a mysterious human being that brings us ever more deeply into the depths of Jesus’ personality. We are called by our hearts to ultimately respond to the very personality of Jesus who is the Word of God. We are incorporated into the body of Christ so as to be drawn into the life of the Trinity. We cannot turn a page of the Gospels without seeing Jesus beckoning to us, calling to us to enter more deeply into His inner mystery. The life of prayer, itself, is a call to enter into the Trinitarian life through the Word made flesh.

It is in this way that we can see the uniqueness of the Christian life. It does not ultimately rest on the fact of creation. It is a trinitarian relationship of love with the Word of God. There is only one Word, and one Incarnation in which the Word has become flesh. The elevated form of the human race found in Jesus awakens us to our incorporation into the one body of Christ. There is a wonderful transparency in the elevated humanity of Jesus, a dynamic transparency that comes into play no matter where we encounter this elevated humanity of Jesus, whether in the Gospels, the writers of the Fathers or the saints, or the actions of those who serve Jesus in the poor.

When the Word of God takes a human nature, that human nature is transformed. It receives an entity of union. The humanity of the Word as a creature is a work common to the three divine persons. But the humanity of the Word is unterminated. It does not come to a final conclusion at the level of a human form. Its entire being is geared to the Word and completed in the Word. The humanity of the Word finds its ultimate end in the Word.

The humanity of Jesus is a true humanity, and as such it becomes one with the humanity of the human race. Once the humanity of the Word is created, then it unites itself with the human race and opens the human race to the Word, and thus to the life of the Trinity, itself. The humanity of the Word is at once a creation ad extra common to the three persons, yet at the same time a special work ad intra, a drawing of the humanity to the Word. The humanity of the Word is uncompleted at the level of humanity, and is drawn, instead, into the life of the Trinity by the Word. Once the humanity of the Word is awakened, it enters the human race, drawing it to itself, and elevating it. We cannot find our own termination now in the line of our humanity because we, too, now have a humanity that is drawn into the Trinity. The humanity of Jesus, as soon as it is created, is elevated and transformed, for it is drawn to be the humanity of the Word. It becomes a divinized humanity sharing in the life of the Trinity. When the Word draws its humanity to itself, there can be no closure for that humanity. The humanity is open and transparent. The Word, in contrast, is totally itself, a complete and infinite person, in the face of which the humanity cannot be a person, but only an elevated and transformed humanity that brings everything to the Word.