God-with-us (Henri Nouwen)

  As soon as we call God God-with-us, we enter into a new relationship of intimacy with him.  By calling God Emmanuel, we recognize God’s commitment to live in solidarity with us, to share our joys and pains, to defend and protect us, and to suffer all of life with us.  The God-with-us is a close God, a God whom we call our refuge, our stronghold, our wisdom, and even, more intimately, our helper, our shepherd, our love.  We will never really know God as a compassionate God if we do not understand with our heart and our mind that the Word became flesh and lived among us (Jn 1:14).

--Henri Nouwen          

Image source:  And the Word Became Flesh, St. John's Bible, https://library.nd.edu.au/sjbtour/wordmadeflesh

Quotation source