Advent is a season of anticipation, beginning not with our yes to God but with God’s yes to us. Before Mary or Joseph respond in obedience, God chooses to step into our world with hope. Matthew tells Joseph to name the child Jesus, inviting him into the story through a simple but risky act of obedience. Joseph, afraid yet willing, shows us that faith often feels small in the moment but becomes significant in God’s hands. Advent calls us to trust God in the places where fear meets invitation, remembering that every step we take rests on God’s first yes spoken over our lives.

Human beings are created for connection with God and with one another. Loneliness harms us, but love sustains us. True love is not just emotion; It is Christ on the cross sacrificial and self-giving. In friendships and in marriage, we are called to reflect this love. No one person can meet all our needs, only God can. For He is love, and in Him we find the fullness our hearts long for.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.