“And he was incarnate of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary.”

And He became flesh from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. This “Et incarnatus est” is one of the densest formulas of the Creed. Joseph Ratzinger (1995) reminds us that in this “Et incarnatus est” the entire Marian mystery is condensed: Mary is the door of flesh through which the Word enters the world.IntroductionMaria, the Virgin, and the Incarnation of the Word: Ratzinger’s theologyThe Nicene Creed, like all the great creeds of the ancient Church, is fundamentally a confession of the Trinity. Its essential content is to say “yes” to the living God, our Creator, from whom all life comes and to whom it returns. It is a confession of God, but what does it mean to invoke God, the living God? It means that God is not a conclusion of our thought, that now, with the awareness of our existence and understanding, we present Him to others. If it were merely a matter of that, God would remain a thought of ours, and every attempt to turn to Him could be a constant search for hope and expectation, but it would still lead to uncertainty.Speaking of the living God means: God reveals Himself to us, He comes from eternity into time and relates to us. We cannot define Him according to our preferences. He defined Himself and now, as our Creator, He stands before us, above us, and among us. This self-revelation of God, by which He is not the fruit of our reflection, but our Creator, constitutes precisely the central point of the confession of faith. The recollection of God’s history within human history does not complicate the simplicity of God’s confession, but is His inner condition.Therefore, the center of all our confessions of faith is the “yes” to Jesus Christ: “He became incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary and became human.” We bow down before this phrase, because the veil of God’s dwelling place is rent, and the mystery touches us immediately. The distant God becomes our God, becomes Emmanuel, “God with us.”The great masters of sacred music, in a way always new, in addition to everything that can be expressed in words, gave this phrase that resonance through which the inexpressible touches our ears and hearts. Such compositions are an “exegesis” of the mystery, which penetrates deeper than all our rational interpretations. But as the Word who became flesh, we must also try again and again to translate this original creative Word, who “was with God” and “is God” in our human words, in order to hear the Word in the words.1. Grammar and content in the phrase of the creedIf we examine the phrase first and foremost according to its grammatical structure, we see that it includes four subjects. The Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary are explicitly mentioned. But there is also the subject “He… of”.He became flesh. This One is first called by various names: Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, God true of God true, consubstantial with the Father. Thus, in Him—inseparable from Him—another Self is included: the Father, with whom He is of the same substance, so that He can be called God of God. This means: the first and true subject of this sentence—as expected after what was said before—is God, but God in the Trinity of subjects, which are yet one: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.However, the drama of the sentence lies in the fact that it does not formulate an affirmation about God’s eternal being, but an affirmation of action, which, upon closer examination, reveals itself even as a declaration of passion—as a passive. To this affirmation of action, in which the three divine Persons participate—each in their own way—belongs the expression “from Mary, virgin,” indeed, it depends on the drama of the whole. Without Mary, God’s entry into history would not be complete. What matters in the confession of faith would not be achieved: that God is a God with us, and not just a God in Himself and for Himself. Thus, the woman who qualified herself as humble, that is, as an anonymous multitude (Lk 1:48), is placed at the center of the confession in the living God, who cannot be thought without her.She belongs inalienably to our faith in the living God, in the God who acts. The Word becomes flesh, the eternal and fundamental meaning of the world enters into her. He does not just look from outside, but He Himself becomes an active subject in her. For this to happen, it was necessary that the Virgin made her whole person available, becoming the place of God’s dwelling in the world. Incarnation needed acceptance.Only then can the unity of the Logos and the flesh be truly verified. “He who created you without you did not want to redeem you without you,” Augustine said about this. The world to which the Son comes, the “flesh” He assumes, is not just any place or thing: this world, this flesh, is a human person, an open heart. The Letter to the Hebrews, drawing from Psalm 40, interpreted the process of Incarnation as a true divine dialogue: “You prepared a body for Me,” the Son says to the Father. But this preparation of the body is accomplished to the extent that Mary also affirms: “Sacrifice and offering you did not want, a body you prepared for me… Behold, I come to do your will” (Heb 10:5; Ps 40:6-8). The body is prepared for the Son when Mary gives herself entirely to the Father’s will and thus makes her body available as a tent for the Holy Spirit.2. The biblical foundation of the phraseTo fully comprehend the central phrase of the faith confession, we must go beyond the Creed to its source: Sacred Scripture. Looking more closely, the profession of faith reveals itself at this point as a synthesis of the three great biblical testimonies to the incarnation of the Son: Mt 1:18-25. Luke 1:26-38. Jn 1:13. Let us therefore — without entering into a detailed interpretation of these texts — seek to grasp something of their specific contribution to the understanding of God’s incarnation.2.1. Mt 1:18-25Matthew writes his Gospel for a Jewish and Judeo-Christian audience. Therefore, he is concerned to highlight the continuity between the Old and New Covenants. The Old Testament points to Jesus, where promises are fulfilled in him. The internal bond of expectation and fulfillment becomes, at the same time, a demonstration that God truly acts here and that Jesus is the world’s Savior, sent by God. From this perspective, above all, Matthew develops the story of childhood from Saint Joseph: to show that Jesus is the son of David, the last promised one, who continues the Davidic dynasty and transforms it into the kingship of God over the world. The Davidic lineage leads to Joseph: the angel addresses him as the son of David (Mt 1:20). Thus, Joseph becomes the one who names Jesus: “The adoption as a son takes place with the imposition of the name” (J. Gnilka, Das Matthäusevangelium I, Freiburg 1986, 19).Precisely because Matthew wants to show the correlation between promise and fulfillment, the Virgin Mary appears alongside the figure of Joseph. She had not yet been revealed, and the promise that God made through the prophet Isaiah to the skeptical King Ahaz, who did not want to ask God for a sign when enemy armies were drawing ever closer, remained incomprehensible. “The Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel” (Is 7:14). No one is able to say what this sign meant in the historical context of King Ahaz; it was given in a way that transcended that time. The promise continues to shine in the history of Israel like a star of hope, guiding the altar toward the future, the yet unknown. For Matthew, with the birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary, the veil is lifted: the sign is already given. The Virgin who gives birth by the power of the Holy Spirit is herself the sign. Now, a new title is linked to this second prophetic line, which gives Jesus’ name all its meaning and depth. If, from the promise of Isaiah, the boy is called Emmanuel, at the same time, the scope of the Davidic promise is broadened.The kingdom of this child goes beyond what one could expect from David’s promise: it is the kingdom of God. It participates in the universality of God’s rule, because in it God enters into the history of the world. The announcement, which is manifested in the story of the conception and birth of Jesus, is taken up only in the last verses of the Gospel. During his earthly life, Jesus feels closely linked to the house of Israel, not yet sent to the nations of the world. But after his death on the cross, as the risen one, he proclaims: “Make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). Here he reveals himself as God-with-us, whose new kingdom includes all peoples. In accordance with this, Matthew, in the account of Jesus’ conception, modifies Isaiah’s words in one point. He no longer says: She (the virgin) will call him Emmanuel, but: they will call him Emmanuel, God with us. This “they” announces the future community of believers, the Church, which will invoke Jesus by this name. In Matthew’s narration, everything is oriented toward Christ, because everything is oriented toward God, so the profession of faith rightly comprehended it and transmitted it to the Church.Since God is now with us, the human carriers of the promise are also of essential importance: Joseph and Mary. Joseph represents God’s faithfulness to Israel, Mary is the hope of humanity. Joseph is the father according to the law, Mary is the mother with her body: through her, God became truly one of us.2.2. Lk 1:26-38“In those days Mary, a virgin, was betrothed to Joseph, of the house of David. And she was virgin, and conceived by the Holy Spirit, and bore a Son, whom she named Jesus. And his birth was thus announced: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’). And Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She shall bear a Son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.'”Now let us consider the presentation that Luke gives of the condition and birth of Jesus, not to provide an exegesis of this dense text, but to grasp its particular contribution to the profession of faith. I will limit myself to the passage of the announcement of Jesus’ birth by the Archangel Gabriel (Lk 1:26-38). Luke reveals the Trinitarian mystery in the angel’s words, thus giving the event the theological center to which the entire story of salvation, also in the profession of faith, refers. The child who is to be born is to be called the Son of the Most High, the Son of God. The Holy Spirit, as the power of the Most High, will mysteriously bring about his conception: thus we speak of the Son, and indirectly of the Father and the Holy Spirit.For the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary, Luke uses here the word “to cover with a shadow” (v. 35). Thus, he alludes to the Old Testament story of the holy cloud, which, hovering over the Tent of Meeting, indicated God’s presence. Mary is thus characterized as the new holy tent, the living area of the covenant. Her “yes” becomes a place of encounter where God meets the world. God, who cannot be contained by stone houses, now resides in a human person. Luke emphasizes this theme of the new temple, the true ark of the covenant, especially in the angel’s greeting to Mary: “Rejoice, full of grace. The Lord is with you” (1:28). It is now widely accepted that this word of the angel transmitted by Luke takes up the promise of Zephaniah 3:14, addressed to the “daughter of Zion” and announces God’s presence in her midst. With this greeting, Mary is presented as: the daughter of Zion in person and at the same time as the dwelling place, as the holy tent, over which the cloud of God’s presence rests. The Fathers of the Church, following this idea, which later also determines the paleochristian iconography, saw Saint Joseph, through his flowering staff, as the high priest, as the archetype of the Christian bishop. Mary, on the other hand, is the living Church. Upon her descends the Holy Spirit, who makes her the new temple of God. Joseph, the righteous, is presented as the administrator of God’s mysteries, as the superintendent and guardian of the sanctuary, which is the wife and the Word within her. Thus, he becomes the image of the bishop, to whom the wife is entrusted. He is not at her disposal, but under her protection. Everything is oriented towards the Trinity, but precisely for this reason, in the mystery of Mary and the Church, her “being with” in history becomes particularly evident and understandable.Another point in Luke’s account of the Annunciation seems important for our question. God demands a “yes” from the human being. He does not simply dispose of it with an act of his power. He has created for himself a free interlocutor in the human creature, and now needs the freedom of that creature in order for his kingdom, which is not based on an external power, but on freedom, to become reality. Bernard of Clairvaux, in one of his sermons, dramatically represented this expectation of God and humanity:“The angel awaits your response, for now is the time to return to him who sent him… O Lady, give this answer, for the earth, indeed, the underworld, and the heavens await. Just as the King and Lord of all longed to see her beauty, he longs for your affirmative answer… Why do you hesitate? Why do you fear? Behold, he who is expected by all is at your door. Woe to him if, through your hesitation, he passes by… Arise, run, open! Arise with faith, hasten with your offering, open with your consent.” (Bernard of Claraval, In Laudibus Virginis Matris, Homily IV, 8)

Without this free consent of Mary, God cannot be made to be taken. Certainly, this is entirely grace from Mary. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, in fact, has only this specific meaning, to show that it is not a corrupt being that sets in motion redemption by its own power, but her total consent, from the beginning and prior, in divine love, which already encompasses her, even before she is conceived. Everything is grace. But grace does not take away freedom, on the contrary, it creates it. The whole mystery of redemption is present in this narrative and is summed up in the figure of the Virgin Mary: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).

2.3. Prologue to the Gospel of John

Let us now turn to the Prologue of the Gospel of John, on which the Creed is based. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) The Logos becomes flesh: we are so accustomed to this phrase that it no longer strikes us as the unprecedented synthesis of the divine with what seemed absolutely separate, a synthesis in which the Fathers of the Church identified themselves step by step. Here lay and still lies the true Christian novelty, which seemed senseless and inconceivable to the Greek spirit. What is said here does not derive from a particular culture, such as the Semitic or Greek, as is often carelessly affirmed. It is something against all cultural forms. It was as alien to the Jews as, for entirely different reasons, it was to the Greeks or Indians, and also to modern spirit, for which this synthesis of the phenomenal and numinous world seems completely unreal, and is the subject of renewed questioning with all the self-awareness of modern rationality. What is said here is new because it comes from God and could only be done by God. For all periods of history and all cultures, it is something absolutely new and unprecedented, to which we can access through faith and only through faith. It opens up entirely new horizons for thinking and living.John, however, has a very specific emphasis in mind. The phrase “the Word became flesh” is a prelude to Chapter 6 of the Gospel, which in its entirety develops this half-verse (R. Schnakenburg, *Das Johannesevangelium* I, 243).Jesus says to the Jews and the world: “The bread that I will give (that is, the Logos, which is the true food of souls) is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51). The word “flesh” already expresses, at the same time, the gift up to the sacrifice, the mystery of the cross, and the mystery of the paschal sacrament that derives from it. The Word does not become flesh in some way to have a new condition of existence. The dynamic of the sacrifice is included in the incarnation. Again, the words of the psalm resound: “A body you have prepared for me… (Hebrews 10:5; Psalm 40).” Thus, in this short phrase, the whole Gospel is contained. One feels the call to the words of the Church Fathers: “The Logos condensed, became small. This holds in two ways: the infinite Logos became small, a child. But also the immeasurable Word, all the fullness of Scripture, is contracted into this single phrase, in which the Law and the Prophets are synthesized” (H. U. von Balttasar, *Das Wort verdicttet sich selbst* in *Communio* 6 (1977), 397-400). Being and history, cult and ethics converge here at the Christological center and are present without interruptions.A second indication close to my heart can be brief. John speaks of God’s dwelling as a consequence and purpose of the incarnation. For this, he uses the word “tent” and refers again to the tent of encounter from the Old Testament, to the temple theology, which finds its fulfillment in the Word made flesh. In the Greek word used for “tent” – skené – also resounds the Hebrew word *stekînat*, that is, the sacred cloud of primitive Judaism, which then became the name of God and indicated “the gracious presence of God, with whom the Jews gathered to pray and study the law” (R. Scnackenburg, *Das Johannesevangelium* I, 245). Jesus is the true *stekînat* through which God is among us, when we gather in his name.Finally, we must once again offer a sacrifice in verse 13. To those who received him, he – the Logos – gave the power to become children of God: “To all who believe in his name, who were not born of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but born of God” (John 6:63). There are two different textual traditions for this verse, and it is no longer possible to discern which is the original. Both seem to be practically of the same antiquity and authority. Therefore, there is a version in the singular: “who was not born of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but born of God.” However, alongside it is the version used by the Latin tradition in the plural: “who were born by God.” This dual tradition is understandable because the verse refers to both issues. In any case, we must always read both textual traditions together, because only then does the full meaning of the text emerge. If we take the plural version as the original, then we speak of the baptized, who participate in the divine rebirth from the Logos. But the mystery of the virgin birth of Jesus – the origin of our divine rebirth – shines so clearly that only a prejudice can deny this correlation. Even if we consider the singular version as the original, the connection with “all those who received him” remains evident.It is clear that the conception of Jesus from God, his new generation, is directed towards this, to take us, to give us a new generation. Just as verse 14, with the word of the incarnation of the Logos, foreshadows the eucharistic chapter of the Gospel, here too the anticipation of the conversation with Nicodemus in the third chapter is evident. Christ tells Nicodemus that the generation of flesh is not enough to enter the kingdom of God, a new generation from above is needed, a regeneration by water and Spirit (3:5). Christ, conceived by the Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the beginning of a new age, a new form of existence. To become Christian means to be welcomed into this new beginning. To become Christian is more than seeking new ideas, a new ethos, a new community. The transformation that takes place here has the radical nature of a true rebirth, a new creation. Thus, the Virgin Mother is once again at the center of the redemptive event. She guarantees with all her being the novelty that God has accomplished. Only if her story is true and at the beginning, is what Paul says valid: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17).

Conclusion: God’s Footprints

God is not confined to stones, but is connected to living people. Mary’s ‘yes’ opens up space where God can set up his tent. She herself becomes the tent and the beginning of the holy Church, which in turn is a foreshadowing of the new Jerusalem, where there is no temple, because God dwells there. The faith in Christ, which we confess in the Creed of the Baptized, is therefore a spiritualization and purification of everything that the history of religions has said and expected about God’s dwelling in the world. But it is also an incarnation and concretization that goes beyond any expectation regarding God’s presence with humanity.

“God is in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16): this indissoluble bond of God with his creature forms the center of Christian faith. If that is the case, it is understandable that Christians from the beginning considered sacred the places where this event occurred. They became the permanent guarantee of God’s entry into the world. Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem became places where, in a certain sense, one can see the footprints of the Redeemer, where the mystery of God’s incarnation touches us closely.Regarding the narrative of the Annunciation, the Protoevangelium of James—dating from the 2nd century and, despite its many legendary elements, possibly preserving also historical records—divides this event into two locations. Mary:> «She took the jar and went out to draw water. And behold, a voice said: ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed among women.’ She turned around to the left and to the right to see where the voice came from. And she was troubled, went into the house, left the jar, took a cloth, sat down on the chair, and spread it out. And behold, an angel of the Lord appeared suddenly to her and said: ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and the Lord will be with you’» (11, 1ff).This double tradition corresponds to the two shrines: the eastern shrine of the well and the Catholic basilica built around the grotto of the Annunciation. Both have profound significance. Origen noted that the well motif reveals the entire history of the Fathers of the Old Testament.To deepen the theology of the Incarnation and Mary’s role as the Virgin, consult Pope John Paul II’s encyclical *Redemptoris Mater* on Mary and the mystery of the Incarnation.For further study: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and the Postgraduate Studies in Mariology.In summary, the “Et incarnatus est” underscores the indispensable maternal mediation of Mary in the mystery of the Incarnation. Delving into the “Et incarnatus est” is to contemplate the concrete reality of Christian faith and mariology. For further reading on the Incarnation, see the encyclical “Redemptoris Mater” (https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/pt/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html).