The Incarnation, God becoming man in Jesus Christ, is not about God’s coming to know something He did not know before. It is not about His suddenly realizing what it means to be human. God created us: He knows human life infinitely more fully than we know it ourselves. But the Incarnation does involve an expansion of knowledge: not God’s but ours. Now, we know with certainty that He knows us and loves us — to the extent of sending us His Son.

The feeling of being known and loved is profoundly precious. Let me illustrate: this Thanksgiving break, I was blessed to return from my school-year teaching assignment to our Motherhouse in Ann Arbor. As the novices and postulants welcomed me, they invariably, eyes twinkling, embedded the Latin philosophical term qua, “as” or “in the capacity of,” in their greetings. There was no way they could have known that the overuse of this word, in itself innocuous and indeed, in scholarly work, quite helpful, drives me to distraction! But one of the Sisters, with whom I have lived previously and who shares a passion for philosophy and theology, does know this about me. She happens to be teaching philosophy this year to the novices and postulants. So she had orchestrated a novitiate-wide joke for my benefit. The incident taught me just how well this particular Sister knows me and, for all my feigned annoyance, my heart sang for joy each time a willing novice accomplice stretched conversation to incorporate the magic word.

The feeling I experienced must be similar to Mary’s when Jesus, informed that his mother and brothers were waiting to see Him, replied, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Lk. 8:21). Initially, one might react with indignation: Jesus seems to be disowning His mother.  But the Church chooses this passage for the Gospel reading on the Feast of Mary’s Presentation in the Temple, and I began to think about the moment from Mary’s perspective. From the dawn of her conscious life, she had dedicated herself to God, first in the Temple and then again and again over the years. She “heard the word” at the Annunciation and acted upon it. She “heard the word” throughout Christ’s ministry and acted on it, His most loyal and, because sinless, closest follower. When Christ responded to the messenger, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it,” an invisible wink must have passed from Him to her. She would have felt as known and loved as I did each time I heard qua this Thanksgiving.

God’s knowledge of you is not impersonal. He knows when you put in the last “two coins” of your energy or your patience (Lk. 21:1-4), knows, down to the minutest detail, what gets you down and what lifts your spirits. And, in this knowledge, He loves you. Remember this when you gaze upon the Child in the manger.

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Sr. Maria Veritas Marks is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.