Readings: Tuesday of the First Week of Advent | USCCB 

What is hidden from the wise and intelligent that even babies understand? Love. The baby’s whole world vulnerably depends on love. 

Pooping, eating, getting dressed, bathing, burping, and sleeping all take place within the context of needing love and relationship. As we get older, more competent, and more intelligent, we set ourselves up to need less love and less relationship. We make ourselves less vulnerable in a world that is inconsistent and harsh. We try to know the world while keeping ourselves safe. We use our brain to gather data while we keep our heart guarded and hidden. We attempt to know without loving or being loved. With this approach we can learn many things, but we will never know God, because God is love. 

When Jesus is revealing the Father, He is revealing love. If I approach Jesus with just my mind and leave my heart at home, I will not understand Jesus. But if I bring my wounded, battered heart to Jesus, that heart that needs love, that always needs love, that seems so desperate and needy, only then will I begin to truly know the Father. As we prepare for the coming of the God who makes himself an utterly dependent baby, let’s have the courage to accept our own vulnerable need for love. 

Shawna Wicker, CSMA Program Manager  

The Campus Ministry Seasonal Reflections are offered during the liturgical seasons of Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter. We bring a variety of voices from Students, Faculty and Staff. The perspectives expressed in these reflections are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Campus Ministry.