Deacon Tom
“Love Changes Everything!”
Paul tells his brothers and sisters in Philippi that he
prays “…always with joy in my every
prayer for you”. He goes on to
tell them, “And this is my prayer: that
your love may increase ever more and more” [so you may] “discern what is of value”. Paul emphasizes that love is the most
important virtue in his letter to the Corinthians, in one of his most famous
quotes, “So faith, hope, love remain,
these three; but the greatest of these is love”1 Cor
13:13. Love, as a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber expresses so
well, Changes Everything!
Advent is, as we are so well aware, a time of
preparation...a time to get ready for visits from friends and family; a time to
cook and prepare the traditional family meals; a time to write Christmas Cards
to distant friends with whom we share fond memories but have not seen in a
while; a time, oh yes of course, for shopping for special gifts, wrapping them,
and decorating the house and Christmas Tree. Whew! We often reap a whirlwind of
fatigue trying to get “prepared” for Christmas. Sometimes, perhaps often, we
miss the “Meaning of the Season”.
Advent is a time
of preparation. But, while these other efforts are worthy and hopefully driven
by our love of family and friends, it is a sad reality that we often fail to
prepare ourselves for the most important of friends, family, and loved ones... Emmanuel, the Word Made Flesh. The most beautiful preparation we can make, one that is most
worthy of the Christ Child we anticipate, is to overcome our hardness of heart,
our negative judgments of others,
our insistence to hold on to grudges and resentments of the past, our
unwillingness to forgive those who have hurt us. We are “broken” and we need to
be healed from the inside out. The only gift the Christ Child desires is for us
to have a change of heart so that we
may welcome Him into our lives untarnished by the bitter resentments of the
past, hearts that long to be filled with the Peace and Joy of the new born babe. Love really does change everything. Love changes us from the
inside out as Dickens demonstrates in his famous Ebenezer Scrooge.
May this Advent Season be different than all we have
experienced in the past. May God’s grace increase our desire for those gifts
that last forever: a generous heart, a deeper sense of compassion and empathy
for those who are hurting this year, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
And, may our love increase so that the Holy One may use us when and where the
Divine Presence is needed to bring healing and reconciliation to our troubled
world.
Yes, “Love changes everything” and, when it does, “Nothing in the World will ever be the same”. Advent is that time of year when we
dare to dream that the forces of love can cast out the darkness in our world
and prepare our hearts for the King of Glory to enter within.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
Image: Giotto Nativity
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