Opening
As we approach the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the air feels different. Not quieter exactly, but heavier. The waiting has narrowed. The story is tightening its focus. Mary is very pregnant now. Joseph is committed. The road ahead is no longer theoretical.
This week, the Church invites us to sit with love. Not the kind that sells us jewelry or promises fulfillment by Tuesday. Not butterflies in our stomach. Not the love that demands constant affirmation or collapses when it stops feeling good. But the love that actually brings Christ into the world.
We use the word love for everything. We love our spouses and our pets. We love our favorite foods and our favorite shows. We love people who make us feel safe and avoid those who complicate us. It is one small word doing far too much work.
That’s part of the problem. When Scripture speaks of love, it isn’t being sentimental. It’s being dangerous.
The love that stands at the center of Advent is not abstract. It is embodied. It shows up in a young woman who says yes without knowing how the story will end. It shows up in a man who chooses fidelity over reputation. It shows up in God entering the world not as force, but as vulnerability.
That kind of love makes us uneasy, because it asks something of us.
Reflection
In English, love is a blunt instrument. Scripture is far more precise. The New Testament speaks of agape, self-giving love that seeks the good of the other without counting the cost. It speaks of philia, the love of friendship and shared life. It speaks of eros, desire that draws us toward intimacy and union. None of these are disposable, but Advent centers agape.
This is the love Saint Paul describes when he writes, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way” (1 Corinthians 13:4–5). That passage is not poetry for weddings. It is a mirror held up to our souls.
Mary’s love is not romantic. It is courageous. She risks her safety, her standing, and her future. Joseph’s love is not sentimental. It is disciplined. He chooses mercy when the law would have allowed rejection. God’s love is not distant. It is enfleshed.
I’ll be honest. I am much better at the easy versions of love. The love that affirms people I already agree with. The love that stays theoretical. The love that can be expressed in words but never tested by inconvenience.
Advent reminds me that the love which saves is always concrete. It feeds the hungry. It stays when leaving would be simpler. It tells the truth without cruelty. “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:18).
That kind of love costs something. It always has.
Call to Faithful Action
This week, practice a more demanding love. Not a louder one. Not a showier one. A truer one.
Choose one place where love will require restraint instead of reaction. One conversation where you listen instead of correct. One person who costs you something to care for. Love there.
And be honest about the false gospels we are offered. Any faith that promises power without sacrifice, belonging without accountability, or blessing without responsibility is not the love revealed in Christ. Advent love does not dominate. It serves.
Closing Prayer
Loving God,
As we draw near to the birth of Your Son, slow our hearts and sharpen our sight. We confess that we often confuse love with comfort, affection with approval, and kindness with avoidance. Teach us again what love truly is.
Form in us the love that Mary carried, patient, trusting, and brave. Shape in us the love Joseph lived, steady, protective, and faithful. Root us in the love You reveal in Jesus, a love that bends low, tells the truth, and remains present no matter what.
Where our love has become conditional, make it generous. Where it has grown fearful, make it courageous. Where it has been reduced to words, give it fresh embodiment.
Bless those who are tired of trying to love in a hard world. Strengthen those whose love has gone unseen. Heal those who have been harmed by love distorted into control or shame.
As we wait for Christ to be born again among us, may we become a dwelling place for His love in the world.
Amen.