I only discovered this metaphor for the enfleshment of the Word the other day, or I would have included it with the three at the beginning of these excerpts.

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made” (Jn 1:1-3). Grasp this if you can; take it: it’s food. But you may say to me, “Yes, that’s food, but I’m just an infant, I have to drink milk before I can eat food.” That’s why -- because you have to drink milk and he is solid food -- this food itself became flesh in order to reach your mouth. A mother eats food so that in her flesh she can transform it into milk for her infant. In the same way, the Lord, food of angels, became flesh, became milk. (EnPs 119[120], 2; PL 37, 1598)

Is this too far a conceit?

Rev. Joseph A. Komonchak, professor emeritus of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

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