so to speak, yielded Himself captive to love; love has gained the victory over Him, and from being His Own has reduced Him into our possession: God so loved the world, as to give His Only-begotten Son. [John 3:16] God has so loved men, says Jesus Christ, that He has even given them His Only-begotten Son. And the Son Himself, also through love, was pleased to give Himself to men to be loved by them.
In divers ways had God already striven to win the hearts of men, at one time with benefits, at another with threats, and again with, promises; but He had still fallen short of His aim. His infinite love, says St. Augustine, made Him devise the plan of giving Himself entirely to us by the Incarnation of the Word, in order thus to oblige us to love Him with our whole hearts. "Then love found out the plan of delivering up itself." He could have sent an Angel, a seraph, to redeem man; but, aware that man, had he been redeemed by a seraph, would have had to divide his heart, by partly loving his Creator and partly his redeemer, God, Who would possess the entire heart and the entire love of man, "wished therefore to be" (says a pious author) "both our Creator and Redeemer;" as He was our Creator, so He would likewise become our Redeemer.
And behold Him already arrived from Heaven in a stable; as a Child, born for us and given to us: A Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us. This was precisely what the Angel signified when addressing the shepherds: Today is born to you a Saviour. [Luke 2:11] As much as to say: O ye men, go to the cave of Bethlehem; there adore the Infant, Which you will find laid on the straw, in a manger,
