"...Humanity Added to Divinity..."

Earliest portrait of St. Augustine

Meditation for a Sunday Morning

"But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights."

Letter to the Galatians chapter 4 verses 4-5

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(Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest thinkers the Christian movement ever produced, talks about the miracle we just finished celebrating -- the incarnation of God.)

Let us rejoice, my brethren, let the nations exult and be glad because, not the visible sun, but the invisible Creator of the sun has consecrated this day [Christmas] on which the Virgin, a true but inviolate Mother, gave birth to Him who became visible for our sake and by whom she herself was created.

A virgin conceives, yet remains a virgin. A virgin is heavy with child, a virgin brings forth her child, yet she is always a virgin... The same One who is Man is God, and the same One who is God is Man, not by a confusion of nature but by a unity of person. Finally, He who is the Son of God, being born of the Father, is always co-eternal with His Father; He, being born of the Virgin, became the Son of Man. Thus, humanity was added to the divinity of the Son without producing a fourfold union of Persons; the Trinity remains.

Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354 - 430)
Sermon 186