…And Is Beyond Measure Astonished

In this Advent season, reflect on these words about the incarnation of Jesus:

The successes of the Saviour, brought about by His incarnation, are of such kind and magnitude that, if one wished to go through them all, it would be like those who gaze at the expanse of the sea and try to count its waves.

For as it is impossible to take in all the waves with the eye, their multitudinous approach transcending the perception of him who attempts it, so also is it impossible for him who wishes to take in all the successes of [the Messiah] in the body, to grasp the whole even by counting them, those which transcend his apprehension being more than those he thinks he has taken in.

Better were it, therefore, not to attempt to speak of the whole, when one cannot give worthy expression even to a part; but to mention yet one, and to leave you to marvel at the whole. For all are equally wonderful, and wherever one turns one's eyes, there one sees the Divine working of the Word, and is beyond measure astonished.

Athanasius (296-373)