Home > Advent Blog 2025

Love Wins

December 31, 2025

Lamentations 3:26-36 | Psalm 146 | Acts 16:25-34 | Luke 4:14-21

The Gospel appointed for December 31st  brings us into the synagogue at Nazareth, where Jesus unrolls the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and proclaims words that carry through time:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” It is an awe-inspiring moment, as Jesus publicly claims his mission and reveals the heart of God’s kingdom: good news rooted in justice, mercy, and liberation.

On this same day, the Episcopal Church remembers Frances Joseph Gaudet (1861-1934), an educator, social worker, and defender of the oppressed. Gaudet lived the kind of mission Jesus announced in Nazareth. As a single parent responsible for three children, she understood firsthand, as many of us do, the weight of responsibility and the demands of compassion. She spent her life advocating for those whom society had forgotten: children caught in broken systems, prisoners with no one to speak for them, and families crushed by cycles of poverty and injustice. 

Her work was not grand in the world’s eyes, but it changed lives and challenged structures that denied the fullness of life to the most vulnerable. Gaudet believed that education, opportunity, and human dignity were not luxuries but sacred rights. In this way, her life becomes a living commentary on Jesus’ proclamation: liberation is not an idea but an action, an embodied commitment to lifting up those who are the most vulnerable among us.

When Jesus declares, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” he invites us to understand “today” not as a moment fixed in the past but as a call that continues in every generation. The Spirit that anointed Jesus is the same Spirit that empowered Frances Gaudet. It is the same Spirit that shines through in St. Luke’s newest ministry today, Love in Action. A ministry committed to challenging and changing systems that keep people captive in poverty, injustice, loneliness, and discrimination. It is one of many ways St. Luke’s is embracing God’s work of release and restoration, and its mission shines as a living reflection of Frances Gaudet’s work.

As we usher in a new year, may we hear Jesus’ words as our charge. May the life of Frances Gaudet be a reminder that the Gospel is never meant to stay on the page. It is meant to be lived with steadfast devotion to the least among us. The Gospel moves us to reflect on how we are putting our love into action.

As we live out our commitment to following Jesus, may we be ever mindful of how we are putting our love into action. May we also know that whatever challenges we face or whatever ministry we choose to involve ourselves with, it is always ultimately about love, and love in action always wins.

Patricia Warburton