The Shocking Love of Our Lord

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We were fallen, but God wished to stoop down over us, to descend to our level just as a mother stoops down toward her baby. He was divest ed of his glory, of his infinite majesty. He did not wish to appear in the natural splendor of his magnificence as upon Sinai. He wished, as it were, to make himself nothing. As Saint Paul says, he emptied himself to bring himself down to our level. He took a body and a soul like ours, divesting himself of all glory and choosing the most humble condition among men. He wished to be born the son of a laborer and to place himself in the number of the poorest so that all might be able to come to him without fear.

In abasing himself and uniting himself to us by assuming our nature, God wished to share in our life itself. Consequently, he fulfilled our duties, suffered our pains, experienced our weariness, perspired with our sweat, shed our tears, embraced us, and desired our happiness more than we can ourselves. Even more, the Word of God wished to wash our feet. Finally, he desired to accomplish the total gift of self by dying on the cross for us. After having undergone the worst humiliations, he shed his blood in the midst of atrocious sufferings. This he did to restore our inheritance and make us, in some way, equal to himself. He elevated us to the order of the supernatural, divine, and eternal life which in our blindness we had despised and lost. Yes, Saint Paul can speak of an excess of love because the natural relationships between the Creator and the creature are exceeded. He can speak of foolishness (1 Cor 1:18) since the natural relationships of the Creator toward his creature are, in a certain sense, reversed. God, offended, dies for the culpable creature who despises and flees from him! Something of this foolishness can be glimpsed from the example of certain Christian mothers who, in the excess of their love, offer themselves as victims for a son who insults and dishonors them. ...

One is dealing with an abyss of supernatural love. Only faith can admit it; only the gaze of the saints can penetrate it.