# The wink that opened my eyes to love
*2016-12-06*

> Bill Young reflects on the personal moment that led to his marriage, shares Advent meditations from Mother Teresa and Pope Francis on love, and offers a simple Christmas prayer for favors.

## A wink that changed my life

Good afternoon, I’m Bill Young. Today, December 7th, marks the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and we offered a prayer for those who gave their lives in World War II. It’s also a personal anniversary: on this day in 1984 I met my wife Pat at a Presbyterian birthday party. After a few other single men had spoken with her, I was the fourth. She gave me a wink, and that simple gesture led to a date, an engagement, and more than thirty years of marriage. The road hasn’t always been smooth, but that wink opened my eyes to love.

## Advent Week 2 – Mother Teresa on the sickness of being unloved

Yesterday’s Advent meditation focused on Mother Teresa’s insight that the deepest wound is the feeling of being unloved. She quoted Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” She reminded us that when a poor person dies of hunger, it is not because God neglects them, but because we have failed to be God’s instruments of love—refusing to give a piece of bread or a warm garment. All sicknesses have cures; the only incurable one is the sickness of feeling unloved. Mother Teresa calls us to recognize Christ in the poorest among us and to let love begin at home, with family and neighbors.

## Advent Week 2 – Pope Francis on the mystery of Mary transformed by love

Today’s meditation draws on Pope Francis’s reflections on Mary, the little girl from Nazareth chosen to be the Mother of Jesus. He notes that Mary, preserved from original sin, is not distant from us; God’s loving gaze rests on each person by name. By contemplating Mary’s immaculate motherhood, we are invited to trust our destiny, to be loved, and to be transformed by love. Pope Francis asks us to ask, “How might I be more like Mary?” and to allow ourselves to be changed by the love we receive and give.

## A simple Christmas prayer for favors

I would like to close with a short prayer that I have used each day since Advent, asking God to grant us special favors this holiday season. 

“Hail and blessed be the moment for which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight in Bethlehem. Through the Spirit, we ask the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, to grant us the favors we need for our loved ones. May the Holy Mother intercede for us, that we may receive peace, hope, and the grace to follow Christ.”

May this prayer accompany you through the Christmas days.

*A single wink can open a lifetime of love, and the love we receive from God and Mary calls us to love others, especially those who feel unloved.*