I sent this in five years ago, and some liked it, so forgive me if I send it again:

The Word of the Father, through whom time was made, became flesh and made his birthday in time, and he willed a single day for his human birth without whose divine permission no day rolls round. With the Father he precedes all the spaces of ages; born this day of a mother he inserted himself into the courses of the years.

The maker of man was made man [homo factus hominis factor] so that

the ruler of the stars might suck at breasts,

bread might hunger,

the fountain might thirst,

light might sleep,

the path might be wearied by a journey,

truth might be accused by false witnesses,

the judge of the living and the dead might be judged by a mortal judge,

justice might be condemned by the unjust,

discipline might be beaten with whips,

the cluster of grapes might be crowned with thorns,

the foundation might be hung from a tree,

strength might be weakened,

health [salus] might be wounded,

life might die. 

(Augustine, Sermon 191, 1; Pl 38, 1010)

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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