The Advent Candle of Love

"Go out into the world today and love the people you meet. Let your presence light new light in the hearts of people." (Saint Teresa of Calcutta)

Throughout our lives it is inevitable that others will hurt us because of one key factor; love. If we do not love than we cannot get hurt, but as human beings it is unnatural to not love, and so because we love it is certain that our hearts eventually will become wounded by the actions or words of another.

The more hurt we feel, the more we have experienced love, and that is why we are hurt the most by those whom are the closest to us. The greatest hurt is when we love another, but that love is not returned to us. When we get treated in a way that is the opposite of how we have come to understand love, we get hurt. As a young woman I can attest to the fact that when we love we love hard, and our love is forever, or at least it is supposed to be forever. 

As Christians we are supposed to love one another and we have no right to judge others and decide whether they deserve us to give them our love. Does God, our Father, not continuously love us, His adopted children, despite our sins? Every human on this earth needs to be loved, and to love another means to always will the good of the other. (CC, no. 1766) We can dislike the actions of another, or even hate the actions of another, but we should not hate anyone, which is contrary to our Christian faith.

"If we spend most of our time judging others than we have no time to love them." (Saint Teresa of Calcutta)

Small acts of love truly go a long way, even a simple smile to someone that we pass on the street as we continue on our way. Little acts of charity and kindness can make a huge difference for someone who may not be having the best of days. There are so many different ways that we can show our love for others, especially those that are a daily part of our loves.

It does not take much effort for us to show our love to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and I feel that it really is something we are obligated to do as Christians. How can we live out the Gospel message authentically and not love? All we have to do is look up at the Cross and be reminded of the greatest love; a Father sacrificing His only begotten Son to grant us our salvation. Our beloved, Lord, Jesus Christ hanging upon the cross poured out His blood for us for the forgiveness of sins. We were set free because of God's incredible love for all mankind. How can we not share that love with others?

I encourage our readers during this fourth week of Advent when we light the last purple candle; the one that symbolizes love, to please choose today to do one small act of kindness for someone because one small gesture can make all the difference, and we never know who needs to feel loved today. 

"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."(John 3:16)