Theologians have written much about the Incarnation as the central moment of our redemption and the pinnacle moment in the drama of salvation history. However, we rarely consider the fundamental meaning of this doctrine, namely that God also knows the feelings of cold, fatigue, hunger, and pain, for He too took on a body.
Christ had to learn what it meant to rise stiff and aching into a murky, gloomy morning; He must have had headaches and toothaches, back pain and bone discomfort; He had to experience moments of anxiety, nervousness, and other difficulties. He Himself knew – from the darkness of His mother's womb to the darkness of the grave, through childhood and manhood to the final long agony of dying – what it means to live in that handful of clay, to feel the cool touch of His mother's hand on His burning forehead, to taste the salt of sweat and tears, to hear music and birdsong, but also the coarsest insults, to stumble and fall, to be covered in bruises and wounds. In the end, He prayed, just like we often do, to be spared from further trials and sufferings.
Did God recognize, despite all this, that the human body is good, as He said in the early days of creation? I believe He did. And in this body, He also achieved our redemption.
(Walter J. Ciszek SJ /1904–1984/, He Leads Me, Chapter 9)
