The Fourth Sunday of Advent: A Light of Love
Advent has been a journey. We journey from hope to peace to joy and conclude our Advent journey with a candle dedicated to love. The fullness of the Love of God given to us in human form. The waiting is at an end. It just doesn’t get any better than love.
One question nagging as I write is,” How do I capture in words the overwhelming love of God?” God’s love is expressed through the Incarnation. God becomes fully human, simple, unpretentious, and often powerless. A love so outrageous that God became one with us. God came, in love, to show us, in human form, what love is with whom and how we are to love.
How do we even begin to understand the power of God’s love when the word love has become nearly meaningless in our society? We have but one word when we speak of love. We love popcorn, poetry, and people using the same word. Language fails us when we talk about love and loving.
God’s love is not of the mind. It is not of the spoken word; it is of the heart. It cannot be understood; it is known instinctually. God’s love is known when we allow ourselves to be steeped in His love until we become one and ultimately change.
As we light the fourth candle of Advent, we abandon ourselves. We are welcomed to allow ourselves to be emptied, that God, who breathed His life in us, can make us whole. On this fourth Sunday of Advent, God gives us the gift of Himself. When we accept the blessing given, God becomes the blood flowing in our veins and pumped by our hearts. His Love animates us, gives us the fullness of life, and makes us whole.
In today’s Gospel, Mary is living love. Her prayer, “Be it done as you say,” is the fiat that lays bare her heart and allows God to be one with her. This fourth week of Advent, God asks us the same question he asked Mary: “Will you bear my son for the world?” We respond with faith and integrity. God asks, “Will you bear my son in your body, life, thoughts, and heart? “Will you welcome me to be the lifeblood that courses through your veins and gives you life?” “Will you allow me to fill you and give you the fullness of my love?”
God isn’t pushy or demanding. He wasn’t with Mary, and He isn’t with us. He asks for our willingness to allow Him to fill us with the overwhelming, all-consuming love that is God.
No doubt, like Mary, we may have a few questions. Mary asked, “How can this be? I have had no relations with a man?” The Angel answers Mary: “The power of the Most High will overshadow you, and your son will be the son of the Most High God.”
We ask, “How can this be? I am inadequate, sinful, selfish, prideful, or not good enough.” To our questions and hesitations, God whispers in our ears, “My power will fill you and overcome any weakness, limitation, sin, or human frailty. I love you as you are.”
What’s your answer, and what is mine? Will we have the love, courage, and faith of a 14-year-old girl in Nazareth? With trust, open hands, and an open heart, can we utter, “Be it done according to your Word?”
Do we have the courage to allow God to drain the weaknesses, selfishness, and sin that possess us and fill us full to overflowing with His own lifeblood?
Can we see beyond history this Christmas and know Christmas as more than a remembrance? Christmas is not about 2 millennia ago, and Mary’s “Yes.” God is not asking Mary in 2023; He is asking us to be the vessel of His Incarnation. Will we allow God to be born in us for our world?
In wonder, awe, and strengthened by one another, we are called to whisper in our own voice, “Be it done according to your Word.”
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
