Let's go
". . . down to that littleness, down to all that
Crying and hunger, all that tiny flesh
And flickering spirit - down the great stars fall,
Here the huge kings bow.
Here the farmer sees his fragile lambs,
Here the wise man throws his books away.
"This manger is the universe's cradle,
This singing mother has the words of truth.
Here the ox and ass and sparrow stop,
Here the hopeless man breaks into trust.
God, you have made a victory for the lost.
Give us this daily Bread, this little Host."
- Elizabeth Jennings (1926 - 2001)
"The King of Angels
and Lord of heaven and earth
who in marvellous humility
and astounding poverty
lies in a manger."
- St Clare of Assisi (1194 – 1253)
"The Word in the bliss of the Godhead remains,
yet in flesh comes to suffer the keenest of pains;
he is that he was and for ever shall be,
but becomes that he was not, for you and for me."
- H. R. Bramley (1833-1917)
"The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld his glory."
- St John the Apostle, in John 1:14
"Something that has existed from the beginning,
that we have heard,
and that we have seen with our own eyes;
that we have watched
and touched with our own hands:
the Word, who is life - this is our subject.
That life was made visible:
we saw it and we are giving our testimony,
telling you of the eternal life
which was with the Father
and has been made visible to us."
- St John the Apostle in 1 John 1:1-2
"He is little and weak,
that you may be great and strong;
He is bound in swaddling clothes,
that you may be unbound from the fetters of death;
He is on earth,
that you may be in heaven."
- St Ambrose of Milan (337? – 397)
"The Word was made man
in order that we might be made divine."
and
". . . he deified what he put on; and more than that,
he bestowed this gift on the race of men."
- St Athanasius of Alexandria (296? - 373)
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich,
yet for our sakes he became poor,
so that by his poverty
you might become rich."
- St Paul, in 2 Corinthians 8:9
"'Tis mystery all: th'Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
"He left His Father's throne above
So free, so infinite His grace -
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race:
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!"
- Charles Wesley (1707 – 1788)
". . . the great mystery of the Incarnation
is that true man is in the God
whom no suffering can touch,
and true God in the human flesh
that is subject to pain and sorrow.
By this wonderful exchange
man gains glory through shame,
immortality through chastisement,
life through death.
For unless the Word of God were so firmly joined to our flesh
that the two natures could not be parted even in death,
we mortals would never be able to return to life.
But when the Lord became man and died for our sake,
death lost its everlasting hold over us;
through the nature that was undying in Jesus Christ,
the nature that was mortal was raised to life."
- Pope St Leo the Great (391? – 461)
"I have come that you might have life, life in all its fulness."
- Jesus, in John 10:10