• Daniel Baker
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One of the great theologians in the church is Augustine of Hippo, a bishop in North Africa who lived AD 354-430. He was brilliant and trained as an orator but then came to Christ in his early 30s. From that point on, he devoted his talents and energy to the church and left us volumes of theology, sermons, and letters that continue to educate and edify the church. In one of his Advent sermons, he gave a powerful reflection on the incarnation. Here it is to help you marvel in this miracle:
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, of that Lord by whom all things were made and who was made [flesh] amid all the works of His hands; who is the Manifestor of His Father, the Creator of His Mother; Son of God born of the Father without a mother, Son of Man born of a mother without a father; the great Day of the angels, small in the day of men; the Word as God existing before all time, the Word as flesh existing only for an allotted time; the Creator of the sun created under the light of the sun; ordering all ages from the bosom of His Father, from the womb of His Mother consecrating this day; remaining there, yet proceeding hither; Maker of heaven and earth brought forth on this earth overshadowed by the heavens; unspeakably wise, wisely speechless; filling the whole world, lying in a manger; guiding the stars, a nursling at the breast; though insignificant in the form of man, so great in the form of God that His greatness was not lessened by His insignificance nor was His smallness crushed by - His might.
Augustine, “Sermon 187”[1]
Amen.
Daniel
[1] The Fathers of the Church: Saint Augustine: Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons (Catholic University, 1959).