Love

People who belong to “the Church of the Warm Fuzzies” love the epistles of St. John, especially the verses that begin today’s first reading:

Beloved,
let us love one another:
for love is of God;
and every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love.
1 John 4:7-8

The so-called "Über-orthodox," those of any denomination who take disproportionate pride in doctrinal purity, loathe the goo-goo noises that the “warm fuzzy” Christians make with these verses (especially with guitars and sappy melodies).

As usual, neither extreme has a monopoly on the truth.

The self-righteous “Guardians of the Faith” sometimes need to appreciate and integrate more fully into their lives and their attitudes the aspects of Christian love such as kindness, compassion, and charity.

Likewise, the “warm fuzzy” Christians sometimes need to appreciate and integrate more fully in their lives the reality that Christian love is more than just warm feelings, as St. John continues...

In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
because that God
sent his only begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through him.

Herein is love,
not that we loved God,
but that he loved us,
and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved,
if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another.
1 John 4:9-11

Love is not just something we imagine or feel: the greatest love is something revealed by God in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Love is not just feeling good: the greatest love, exemplified by Christ, is self-sacrificial.

The bottom line as we begin this new year is this:

My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue;
but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:18