Jesus: The Revelation of God
I firmly believe that you will communicate to me all the merits, virtues and works of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ … by transforming me entirely in yourself and in my first-born brother Jesus Christ. (OOCC, X, p. 366; STA, 391)
St. Vincent Pallotti believed that Jesus was the greatest communication of the heavenly Father to the human person. Of all the blessings God had bestowed on humanity, the most significant was the Father’s gift of his Son for the salvation of humankind. For this reason he celebrated the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord in an elaborate manner. Hence, it was St. Vincent’s firm hope that in giving his Son, the Father would also communicate to the human person all the merits and virtues of the life of Jesus. By doing so, God would entirely transform every person who was open to the love of the Father into the image of God and that of the first- born brother Jesus Christ. Since the Father had gifted Jesus, his Son, and the totality of his life to those who were open to his love, every human person had the opportunity to experience God and his love in and through Jesus, the Son of God. Thus, Jesus had become for every human person the revelation of God. He not only revealed to man the incomprehensible essence and nature of God in a human and tangible way, but also helped every person to know and love God in and through his person, in a real way. Thus, in Jesus God became a human person, so that the human person might be able to become like God, in and through Jesus. In this manner, Jesus besides revealing who the Father was, provided himself as the way to the Father.
Do I acknowledge Jesus as the revelation of God? Am I able to know who God is in and through the life of Jesus? Do I believe that Jesus is the way to the Father? Do I use the life of Jesus as a means to reach the Father?
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (Jn. 1:18)