And the word became flesh

In one of his Christmas sermons, Pope Benedict XVI mentions that “the Fathers of the Church, in their Greek translation of the Old Testament, found a passage from the prophet Isaiah that Paul also quotes in order to show how God’s new ways had already been foretold in the Old Testament.

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There we read: ‘God made his Word short, he abbreviated it’ (Is 10:23; Rom 9:28). The Fathers interpreted this in two ways. The Son himself is the Word, the Logos; the eternal Word became small—small enough to fit into a manger. He became a child, so that the Word could be grasped by us. In this way God teaches us to love the little ones. In this way he teaches us to love the weak. In this way he teaches us respect for children” (Homily, Christmas Midnight Mass, Dec. 24, 2006).