In Him was revealed the fountain of all the gifts of grace

"Then, once more, by the Incarnation God placed Himself in like manner within the range of our hearts. There is nothing in the whole history of the world more fearful than the corruption of the heart of man under false conceptions of God. Heathenism is man without God, and for that reason corrupted. There is not a passion or a vice of human nature which was not deified by the pagan world. The very adorations which they paid to the monstrous gods of their own conception were, like their idols, horrible and not to be described. Therefore God, for the purification and sanctification of the human heart, placed Himself within the sphere of our affections: He has made it easy to know Him, and therefore easy to love Him. He revealed Himself of old to Prophets, to Patriarchs, and to His own people.


The personal nature of God was known and understood by the line of the faithful at all times, and especially by the family of Israel, to whom God gave a large and abundant revelation of Himself in His divine personality by His incomprehensible Name, ' I am who am.' The power, the love, the mercy of God—all these great moral attributes were revealed to them. But that He might make them more intimate with the heart of God, He took for Himself a nature like our own; He came as a man into the midst of men; He came to gaze upon men with a human countenance, to speak to men with a human voice, to love men with a human heart, that men might see, united in His Person, the Creator and the creature, the Infinite and the finite, the Divine and the human, that is, in the hypostatic union of manhood with God. In Him was revealed the fountain of all the gifts of grace: the fountain of life which in eternity was in the bosom of God, on the eternal Hills. The River of life came down through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and from Him has spread to all nations. 'The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us; and we saw His glory, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' He revealed thereby the divine characteristics of love, pity, compassion, mercy, tenderness, long-suffering, and generosity. The Word made flesh bore upon Him the whole impress and delineation of God. The eternal character of God shone through the transparent perfections of His human character. It was the human interpretation of the divine nature. And what was the character so revealed? In one word, it was ' God is charity.' The essence of God is charity, and the essence of God is Himself. God is charity; and that Charity was incarnate, and that Charity came and was passible among men. He came to weep over the sins of men, to weep at the grave of the dead, to weep over the sins of Jerusalem, to suffer, to hunger, to thirst, to be in agony, and to be crucified. What, then, is our conception of the Divine Nature through the Incarnation? Love, sorrowing, suffering, and dying for us. It is not possible for the eternal perfections of the love of God to be more intelligible than God has made them by the Incarnation of His Son. ' No man hath seen God,' indeed, 'at any time; but the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,' and Who was made man for us, to suffer and to sorrow and to die, 'hath declared Him.'"

-- The Glories of the Sacred Heart by Henry Cardinal Edward

Could the love of God do more for man?

"When men adore Christ, they truly adore God. Christ is Emmanuel, that is, God-with-us. In Christ we can, so to speak, see the face of God. It is His human face, it is true. But even this vision is a foretaste of the beatific vision of God which is the inheritance of all those who are members of Christ's Body, the Church. It is their inheritance because Christ is the perfect Mediator between God and me. He stands between God and men - He mediates between them - because He brings God's gifts to men and He takes men to God. As man, He is the perfect Mediator because He occupies a position midway between God and men. As man He is not God, and so He stands below God. But as a man possessing the fullness of grace, knowledge and power, He stands above men. He is thus in a perfect position to mediate between God and men. And this is what Christ is doing ceaselessly for men in and through His Body, the Church.

The Incarnation is God's answer to the misery of men without God. God stoops to man to raise him to Himself. 'And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all things to Myself.' Man has only to accept freely Christ as his Mediator. Not even Christ saves a man against his will. Because man is proud, God has stooped down to him. Since man is disobedient, God has given him the example of the perfect obedience of Christ. A man is ignorant and in error, God has given him Christ, the perfect Teacher. Could the love of God do more for man? 'By this hath the charity of God appeared toward us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him'."

-- My Way of Life: The Summa Simplified for Everyone by Walter Farrell, OP, STM, & Martin J Healy, STD

From Mary's virginal womb came forth all holy splendors

“The one who was born of the Father before all centuries in time, clothed in humanity, leaving this Most Holy Virgin after his birth much more pure and holy; that if before he [Christ] was born of her she was most pure, as immensely in her were growing the worthiness and plenitude of graces, as the rivers that enter the sea most full of her, that would be so close and joined to God this grace of the Incarnation of the Divine Word and birth from her, made flesh, taken from her most pure flesh, so much more it [the Incarnation and birth of Christ] increased an immense sanctity and greatness when it was thus achieved, in effect, this infinite good, for which by God was elected this Lady and perpetual Virgin.

He was born of her taking the dowry of subtlety; the one that gives to the glorious bodies in heaven, he took it for himself here, as it was just and due to the new birth [Christ is the new Adam], according to the humanity of the Incarnate Word, Only Son of God, and appeared the kindness and humanity of God Our Savior, not by the works of justice that we did but according to his infinite mercy he made us saved; the incomprehensible Word of God appeared covered with the veil of the flesh of a beautiful child, more [beautiful] than all the sons of men wrapped [in clothes] by his Mother Most Holy, the One who extended the Heavens that He created and the earth, and all that sustains it; reclining Him in a manger and holding Him in her virginal arms, sustaining Him with her virginal breasts provided by Heaven with the milk to nourish the Creator of all; from her virginal womb also came forth all holy brilliance [splendors, glories], for this holy birth was all filled with resplendent glory, as birth of God Humanized [made Man]; thus said St John: The Word became flesh and we beheld his glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

-- Cecilia del Nacimiento: Obras Completas translated by ocdsister

Mother Cecilia of the Nativity (Cecilia del Nacimiento) lived in the late XVI thru early XVII century Spain. She’s a disciple of the famous Fr Tomás de Jesús. She had an excellent theological and literary formation. This literal translation preserves Mother Cecilia’s style of long sentences, and “old Spanish” poetry and transpositions. Her works are very deep and, consequently, not easy to translate in an “easy flow” fashion. I have inserted some words in brackets to make this passage a little easier for you to read. I suggest you read just one phrase, no more than two lines, at a time. Just one of her phrases is theologically rich enough to “keep you busy” for a while. Though well known in Carmel (especially throughout Spain), to my knowledge, her works have never been translated into English.