Let us grow with him

The Nativity, Federico Barocci 1597, wikimedia commons
 
 
O food and bread of angels,
   the angels are filled by you, are satisfied by you,
   but not to the point of satiety.
They live by you; they have wisdom by you.
By you they are blessed.

Where are you for my sake? In a mean lodging, in a manger.
For whom? He who rules the stars sucks at the breast.
He who speaks in the bosom of the Father is silent in the Mother’s lap.
But he will speak when he reaches a suitable age,
   and will fulfill for us the Gospel.
For our sakes he will suffer, for us he will die.
As an example of our reward, he will rise again.
He will ascend into Heaven before the eyes of his disciples,
   and will come from Heaven to judge the world.

Behold him lying in the manger; he is reduced to tininess,
   yet he has not lost anything of himself.
He has accepted what was not his,
   but he remains what he was.
Look, we have the infant Christ; let us grow with him.

Augustine of Hippo 354-430
Praying to Our Lord Jesus Christ
_____________________________

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God 
    something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.
____________________________

How is it that Jesus could be fully God even as he was a tiny baby?
How is Jesus’ birth the beginning of the Gospel fulfillment?

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We seem to give back the dead to you . . .

image / jplenio / pixabay
 
We seem to give back the dead to you, Lord, 
    who gave them to us.
But as you did not lose them in giving, 
    so do we not lose them by their return.
Not as the world gives do you give, O lover of souls.
What you give you do not take away,
    for what is yours is ours if we are yours.
And life is eternal and love is immortal,
    and death is only a horizon, and a horizon is nothing,
    save the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, strong Son of God,
    that we may see further;
    cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly;
    draw us closer to yourself, that we may know ourselves
    to be nearer to our loved ones who are with you.
And while you prepare a place for us,
    prepare us also for that happy place,
    that where you are we may be also,
    for ever, and ever. Amen.
 
Rossiter W. Raymond, 1840-1918, American mining engineer, scholar and writer
 
_______________________
 
 
Do not let your hearts be troubled. 
You believe in God; believe also in me. 
My Father’s house has many rooms; 
    if that were not so, 
    would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 
 And if I go and prepare a place for you, 
    I will come back and take you to be with me 
    that you also may be where I am. 

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