A Forgotten Reason for the Incarnation

One of the beautiful parts of Advent is the opportunity to deepen one’s love and understanding of the great mystery of the Incarnation. There are almost no better guides to this than St. Thomas. Because he sees so deeply into the depth and breadth of divine love, his insights always seem to renew the mystery for me. Here is one sublime example of his insight: 

The Incarnation is for the sake of children 

God wants to win our hearts by showing us the extent to which He loves us. Part of showing us divine love is making that love quickly and easily recognizable for us. It is easy for us to know and love another human being. In the form of a man, then, God makes His love understandable to us and easily reciprocated. 

However, St. Thomas goes further. He writes: 

“In order that the way to God might be opened and made clear to all men, God willed to become man; so that even little children, so like God, might be able to know and love God; and thus by this means can all understand God, and gradually arrive at perfection.”

By becoming man, God wins the hearts of little children. By the Incarnation, they can see, understand, and return God’s love. In my own life, seeing certain paintings and sculptures of Christ as a child helped me grow in the faith. I can remember being very struck by the infant Jesus in a nativity creche one Christmas mass and getting, perhaps for the first time, the deep sense of the magnum mysterium of Christmas. St. Thomas saw that children especially stand to gain from the Incarnation.   

He suggests a reason why. It is because children are so naturally pious, “so like God” that they are ready to respond with love. A relationship with God can begin at any age but no age is too early. There is no reason to wait. The Incarnation, then, perhaps can be called the mystery for children.

Thanks for reading,

The Daily Thomist