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Man of the Millennium is about the most dramatic theological "sighting" of the millennium. In our present day, Heaven has drawn us to the recognition of Joseph, the virginal father of Jesus and chaste husband of Mary. Here we will briefly review the "equations" and "experiments," the "signs and wonders," that led to our "finding" the Father of Jesus. Just as the Christian world recognized Jesus' identity in all its fullness in the first millennium and that of Mary his mother in the second millennium, we are now positioned to understand the Joseph we never knew in this third Christian millennium. This is why 2020-2021 was proclaimed the Year of St. Joseph. The recognition of Joseph led to yet another major affiliated finding, much as the Theory of Relativity began with Special Relativity and culminated in General Relativity. This is the theme of The Once and Future Family. The pilgrimage to Joseph of Nazareth came to yet another climax with the finding of the immediate family of God-become-man as a reality in its own right. The finding of the Holy Family of Nazareth could only come after the finding that it was a family. And this required the recovery of the biblical revelation that Joseph was the true husband of Mary and the true yet virginal father of Jesus. What was involved here was, of course, a process of theological and not scientific understanding. But the two-fold finding was and is dramatic because of its inevitable impact on human society, human history and our very understanding of God.

This is a book about the greatest love story ever told. It is a story that plays out in three places: in God, in human history and in our lives. And we explore each in turn.God is Three Persons in infinite-eternal Love. For God is a beginning less, endless Act of Love of the Lover (the Father), the Beloved (the Son) and the Co-Beloved (the Spirit). The Three are One Heart. For to be Heart is to give all of one's being to the Other: to give totally, unconditionally, forever: to love. They are Three "centers" in a single Ultimate Reality of Love. One Heart. This is the first "level" of the Love Story.The Father loved us into being through his Son and his Spirit. We were created so that we too might be drawn into the infinite-eternal Love of the Three Persons, our hearts embedded in the Heart of God.But, as the hunter-gatherers and every ancient culture tells us, we chose not to respond in kind. Our hearts were hardened and we said No to the divine invitation of Love. The result was the ultimate heart attack of death and destruction. Nevertheless, our heart-broken Lover pursued us. On the human side, the religions of Africa, Mesoamerica, India, China, Persia, Israel and the Mediterranean societies recognized their Creator and sought forgiveness through the universal practice of sacrifice. But all recognized the breach could not be healed without a perfect sacrifice made by the sinless One. This understanding of God, God 1.0, culminated in the revelation received by the people of Israel. The next stage of the Love Story in human history was the incarnation of the Son in Jesus of Nazareth. It was Jesus who revealed God 2.0.He proclaimed a revolution: "The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth." The whole identity and mission of Jesus of Nazareth centered on the Father. Jesus addressed God only as Father. The Father revealed by Jesus was: ¿ prodigal in his limitless love, all Heart ¿ more intimate than any earthly parent and therefore called Abba (the affectionate Aramaic expression for one's own father) and, above all, ¿ "our" Father meeting all our needs, all the time, and drawing us into God Space, the protection and provision of his Providence. Henceforth, we cannot see God except as the infinitely, unconditionally loving Father who makes us his children through his Son and in his Holy Spirit. God 2.0. God as Heart. By his death and resurrection, Jesus made the perfect sacrifice and removed the barrier to our union with God. Through the waters of baptism, we are invited to be re-invented as a new race: redeemed by the Son and filled with the Spirit and thereby children of the Father in the fullest sense who will live "happily ever after". This is level two of the Love Story.The third and final level of the Love Story is our own life. We are each love letters written by the Father. If we accept his offer of eternal union, we become his Love Story.