Office Of Readings | Christmastide | 5th January | A Reading From A Sermon By Saint Augustine | Our Desires Will Be Completed, Fulfilled, In The Vision Of The Word

Christian Art | Satan Tempts Jesus In The Wilderness

Office Of Readings | Christmastide | 5th January | A Reading From A Sermon By Saint Augustine | Our Desires Will Be Completed, Fulfilled, In The Vision Of The Word

‘Our desires will be completed, fulfilled, in the vision of the Word.’

Saint Augustine reflects on the contrast between the hidden riches of Christ and the visible poverty of his humanity. What appears small and limited in Christ’s earthly life conceals the fullness of divine wisdom and knowledge. Augustine draws on the language of scripture to show that Christ’s poverty is not a loss but a means: through it, humanity is brought to a greater inheritance.

The incarnation is presented as a deliberate act of exchange. Christ, equal to the Father, takes the form of a servant so that human beings may be re-formed and restored. By becoming the Son of Man, he enables human beings to become children of God. This change is real but incomplete in the present life. Believers already belong to God, yet what they will finally become remains hidden.

Augustine places strong emphasis on vision. Fulfilment is described not in terms of possession or achievement, but of seeing God. To see Christ is to see the Father, and this vision is sufficient in itself. Nothing further is required once this vision is granted. Until then, human understanding remains partial, sustained by faith and hope.

Because this fulfilment lies in the future, Augustine explains the importance of celebrating Christ’s birth. The Church marks what can presently be grasped: the Word made flesh, born in time, visible in humility. What cannot yet be contemplated directly is approached through signs — the manger, the night, the bridal chamber. These do not replace the final vision but prepare for it.

The reading holds together longing and celebration. Believers are described as hungry and thirsty for justice, desiring the vision of God, yet still able to rejoice in what has already been given. The birth of Christ in the form of a servant becomes the point of contact between present faith and future fulfilment, anchoring hope in a concrete historical event.

A Reading From A Sermon By Saint Augustine | Our Desires Will Be Completed, Fulfilled, In The Vision Of The Word

What human being could know all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ and concealed under the poverty of his humanity? For being rich, he became poor for our sake so that by his poverty we might become rich. When he assumed our mortality and overcame death he manifested himself in poverty: his poverty was not a sign of riches lost but a promise of riches to come later.

How great is the abundance of the delights that he conceals from those who fear him but prepares for those that hope in him!

Until what is being prepared arrives, we can understand only in part. To make us worthy of this perfect gift, he, equal to the Father in the form of God, became like us in the form of a servant, and he re-forms us to be like God. The only Son of God, having become the son of Man, makes many sons of men the sons of God. Taking on the form of a servant, he takes those who were born and brought up as servants and gives them the freedom of seeing the face of God.

For we are the children of God, and what we shall become has not yet appeared. We know that, when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. What, then, are those treasures of wisdom and knowledge? What are those divine riches unless they are what is sufficient for us? What is that multitude of delights unless it is what fills us? Show us the Father and it is sufficient enough for us.

In one of the psalms one of us — either with us or on our behalf — said to him, I shall be filled when your glory appears. But he and the Father are one, and whoever sees him sees the Father also, so the Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory. He will bring us back, he will show us his face and we shall be saved; we shall be filled, and he will be sufficient for us.

Until this comes to pass, until he gives us the sight of what will completely satisfy us, until we drink our fill of him, the fountain of life — while we wander about, apart from him but strong in faith, while we hunger and thirst for justice, longing with a desire too deep for words for the beautiful vision of God, let us fervently and devotedly celebrate the anniversary of his birth in the form of a servant.

We cannot yet contemplate the fact that he was begotten by the Father before the dawn, so let us hold on to the fact that he was born of the Virgin in the night. We do not yet understand how his name endures before the sun, so let us acknowledge his tabernacle placed in the sun.

Since we do not, as yet, gaze upon the Only Son inseparably united with His Father, let us remember the Bridegroom coming out of his bride-chamber. Since we are not yet ready for the banquet of our Father, let us acknowledge the manger of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ

Lord Jesus Christ,
hidden treasure of wisdom and knowledge,
you became poor for our sake
so that we might share in your riches.

Strengthen us while we walk by faith
and not yet by sight.
Deepen our desire for justice
and sustain our hope in what you have prepared.

As we celebrate your birth in humility,
keep our hearts fixed on the vision
that will one day satisfy us completely,
when we see you as you are.

You live and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen

Glossary Of Christian Terms

The Word | The eternal Son of God, through whom all things were made and who became flesh in Jesus Christ.

Incarnation | The taking of human nature by the Son of God, becoming fully God and fully man.

Poverty of Christ | The humility and lowliness of Christ’s earthly life, through which salvation is accomplished.

Vision of God | The direct knowledge of God promised to the faithful, which brings complete fulfilment.

Children of God | Those who, through Christ, share in a new relationship with God by adoption and grace.

Form of a servant | A scriptural expression describing Christ’s acceptance of human weakness and humility.

Faith | Trust in God that sustains belief before full understanding or sight is given.

Hope | The confident expectation of the fulfilment God has promised, grounded in Christ.

Justice | Right relationship with God, for which believers hunger and thirst.

Manger | The sign of Christ’s humble birth, pointing to the mystery of God made visible in weakness.