We began Advent season singing, “O Emmanuel! Come to into our hearts”. We will conclude Advent with a joyful cry “God is with us” three
days later Christmas Day. We have been moulding our advent journey around the various candles of the Advent Wreath and with their symbolisms. On the previous three weeks we lit the candles of hope, peace and joy. Today we lit the candle of LOVE.
The Christmas story is all about love and thus on this before Christmas, we are invited to reflect on the mystery of LOVE manifested in the Christmas Event. The moment we realize ‘God is Love’ love is not merely a virtue; it is a mystery. Christmas is that mystery incarnated. In four ways.
I. Joseph’s love for Mary: Joseph must have felt completely betrayed when Mary was found to be pregnant before they lived together after marriage. Joseph had an option of bringing her before the judges in an act of revenge by disgracing her publicly or even worse, she could be sentenced to death by stoning as per the Jewish law. But he chose the way of love. Love always protects (1 Cor. 13:7), and Joseph chose to protect Mary, even when he thought she had been unfaithful to him. Joseph’s love for Mary is our first example of love at Christmas.
II. Mary’s love for Jesus: Mary’s love for Jesus is to be understood from her knowledge that her son was destined to suffer and die, and she loved her son deeply. It is a greater form of love than the natural love of a mother to the child she bears. From flight to Egypt until as she stood by the cross at Calvary, whole throughout her life she suffered with her Son in the salvific project God. Yes, true love suffers.
III. God’s love for Sinners: The most important part of the Christmas is God’s love for sinners. As it is narrated in John’s gospel, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It was Love that moved the heart of the Heavenly Father to act on behalf of His children.
IV. Our love for one Another: 1 John 4:11 – “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Our love for others should follow, not merely as an obligation, but as a natural outflow of God’s love for us. And so, Christmas is not only a reminder of how much God loves you, but also how much we should love others. We have now lit all four of the outside candles of the Advent wreath, candles of hope, peace, joy and love. But there is one more candle to go –the white candle i.e., the Christ candle in the centre of the wreath. The white candle will be lit at the Christmas service.
The gospel today, Mary’s visitation to Elizebeth, is about how God loved these two women in their unique situations of virginity and barrenness. Mary is pregnant and her virginity is a mystery. Elizabeth is pregnant in her barrenness and old age is a mystery. Both are pregnant because of God’s love by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Out liturgy on the 4th Sunday in advent reminds us that Christmas is LOVE, incarnated and personified in the form of a tiny baby. Wherever there is genuine love there is Christmas, there is Emmanuel-God with us, there is God incarnated. Amen.
Fr. Jerry Joseph Vallomkunnel MCBS