He Came To His Own

'In propria venit,' id est, in sua venit: et sui eum non receperunt. Quae ergo spes est, nisi quia quotquot receperunt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri? Si filii fiunt, nascuntur: si nascuntur, quomodo nascuntur? Non ex carne, non ex sanguinibus, non ex voluntate carnis, non ex voluntate viri; sed ex Deo nati sunt. Gaudeant ergo, quia ex Deo nati sunt; praesumant se pertinere ad Deum; accipiant documentum, quia ex Deo nati sunt: 'Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis.' Si Verbum non erubuit nasci de homine, erubescunt homines nasci de Deo? Hoc autem quia fecit, curavit: quia curavit, videmus. Hoc enim quod 'Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis,' medicamentum nobis factum est, ut quia terra e caecabamur, de terra sanaremur: et sanati quid videremus? Et vidimus, inquit, gloriam eius, gloriam tamquam Unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratia et veritate Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis,In Evangelium Ionannis, Tractatus III

'He came to His own,'1 that is to say, He came to what is his: 'and His own did not receive Him.'1 What, then, is the hope, unless that 'As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God'?2 If they become sons, they are born; if born, how are they born? Not of flesh, 'nor of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; but of God are they born.'3 Let them rejoice, therefore, that they are born of God; let them presume they are of God; let them receive the proof that they are born from God: 'And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.'4 If the Word was not ashamed to be born of man, are men ashamed to be born of God? And because He did this, He cured us; and because He cured us, we see. For this, that 'the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,'4 became a medicine unto us, so that as by earth we were blinded, by earth we might be healed. And being healed what might we see? 'And we saw,' he says, 'His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.'4 Saint Augustine of Hippo, On the Gospel of John, Tractate 3 1 Jn 1.11 2 Jn 1.12  3 Jn 1.13  4 Jn 1.14