Advent, an opportunity to be governed by God's love.

In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul makes the bold claim that everything associated with God works for the good of man and his salvation.[1] The demonstrative nature of St. Paul’s proclamation assumes that a relationship with God is readily possible and tenable. God’s desire to have a loving relationship with His children reflects His intention to care for our souls even when we fall. After the fall of man through the first human act of disobedience, God chose to provide us with an opportunity to worship and love Him again albeit through a different path one that includes revealing Himself through his son Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word made flesh and the other the willingness/opportunity to suffer in the name of Jesus Christ.

The significance of God’s demonstrative display of love is that the Son of God came to reveal the love of God the Father by destroying the power of sin over man, and second providing man with the opportunity to be with God for all eternity in heaven. Hence, we as children of God are engaged in a spiritual reciprocity of sorts, one that calls us after our baptism to spiritually proclaim God as Abba, Father, and Lord. Our external acts of faith are guided by an internal disposition of the soul to please God, seek His Kingdom, and proclaim Him. Part of what directs our spiritual disposition toward God is that we are made in His image and likeness and thus possess a natural inclination to worship him. This inclination is strengthened further with the birth of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. When the son of God was born of the Virgin Mary, the entire incarnational sequence reveals God’s infinite desire to reach the soul of man through the life and eventual sacrificial death of his only begotten son.  

It is important to understand the reciprocal love expressed between God and man as this serves as an important backdrop in understanding the nature of Advent and the significance of preparing man to receive and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The season of Advent does signify the beginning of the new liturgical cycle, but it also provides us with an opportunity to be intimately governed by God’s love through the birth of His son. The entire Incarnation sequence found at the annunciation reveals how we should receive the love of God as revealed by the Blessed Mother who affirmed the will of God over hers.

The actions of our Blessed Mother toward the Angel Gabriel provide us with a visible example of how we should detach ourselves from the human pleasures of the world by actively seeking a permanent change in spiritual attitude and embracing ascetical love.  In his second Epistle, St. Peter reminds us about our duty and responsibility to adhere to what Christ left for us on earth after his death;

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.[2]

The soul needs a place a refuge and nourishment where he can mature in his relationship with God. A primary aspect of Advent is that it introduces a preparation and expectancy of the coming Messiah Jesus Christ who would offer himself in death for the salvation of you and me from the evils of sin that separate us from God.

St. Ambrose reminds us:

The Lord who has taken away your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and keeps you from the wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is accustomed to leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself to God does not dread the devil. If God is for us, who is against us?[3]

St. John Henry Newman's infamous quote: “Cor ad cor liquitor” “heart speaks to the heart” describes how the heart is reached through the imagination through direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events by history by description. St. Newman emphasizes the development and maturation of the intellect and will in union with the soul. Jesus came to recover and reestablish our anthropological identity with God our Father. This, as I have already mentioned is centered on the Incarnation.

Our desire for Divine love involves the ascetical practice of not thinking of ourselves more than we should, or worse yet, more than anyone else, which on a purely human level is one of the most difficult virtues to practice. We are reminded when Christ received admiration, awe, and wonder about his teaching abilities within the synagogue, he immediately directed this attention to the Divine Lord:

My teaching is not my own, but His who sent me.[4]

The opportunity to be governed by God’s love during Advent should not be underscored. God as the definition of love reveals his infinite love and mercy to prepare us for our final purpose, heaven. He provides us with an opportunity for a new life through His Son because God is love.[5] The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the virtue of love as the first gift[6] to us. From the very beginning, God visibly expressed his desire to be in communion with us in love. Advent is an opportunity to renew our childlike identity with the Father through the Son through the virtue of humility recognizing that we are born of God.[7]

Advent provides us the opportunity to be governed by God’s love but also to run towards it as described by St. Augustine,

Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal, that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.[8]