Consideration for the 1st day
At the beginning of time the Word rested in the bosom of his Father at the zenith of the heavens. There He was the cause and the model of all creation. In the depths of an incalculable eternity dwelled the Child of Bethlehem. There is where we should search for his origins that have never had a beginning. From thence is when we should date the genealogy of the Eternal One who has no ancestors, and find the cornerstone of his life of infinite contentment.
The life of the Eternal Word in the bosom of his Father was marvelous, nevertheless, sublime mystery, He seeks another dwelling: a created mansion. Not, because there were anything lacking in his eternal mansion for his infinite happiness, but because his infinite mercy longed for the redemption and the salvation of mankind that would not come to pass without Him.
The sin of Adam had offended God and that infinite offense could not be repaired but for the merits of that same God. Adam’s race had disobeyed and merited eternal punishment. It was, therefore, necessary for its salvation and for the reparation of its guilt that God, without leaving heaven, should take the form of man on earth and through obedience to the designs of his Father expiate that other disobedience, ingratitude and rebellion.
It was necessary, as foreseen by his love, that he take the form, the weaknesses and the unconscious ignorance of infancy in order to expiate the weaknesses and the systematic ignorance of man; that he grow in order to give man spiritual growth; that he suffer in order that man die to his passions and his vanity.
For these reasons, the eternal Word, burning with desires to save mankind, resolved to make himself a man also, and thereby redeem the guilty.