Augustine: Notable and Quotable (3)

Awake mankind! God became a human being to save you from death. If he had not been born in time, a happy eternal life would have been impossible for you. You never would have escaped your sins if he had not taken on your humanity. It was only through his mercy that you escaped eternal unhappiness. You would have perished, had not he come. And so, let us celebrate the festive day on which Jesus-God, he who is the great and Eternal Day, came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time.

—Augustine, Sermon 185, 1-2