Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters, on this Sunday, we begin a new liturgical year, that is a cycle in our year beginning with the season of Advent and ending with the solemnity of Christ the King which was last Sunday. This season of Advent as we all should know, is the season of preparation, the preparation for the celebrations of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we celebrate as Christmas.
Advent comes from the word Adventus, which is the term that describes arrival, onset, coming, and the approach of the world’s long awaited Saviour, the Messiah Whom God had promised will be the deliverance of all peoples, of all mankind from all the wickedness, the troubles they had in this world. The season of Advent is the time of preparation, for us to be ready to welcome the Lord when He comes again in time to come.
We may think that our liturgical celebrations and the calendars have no link in terms of how the seasons and the celebrations are arranged, but if we look deeper into it, in fact we should all realise that there is a certain central theme and meaning to the celebrations, and including this season of Advent, that is placed between the Solemnity of Christ the King, and the readings that are associated with it, and the solemnity of the Nativity, that is Christmas.
The Scripture readings immediately preceding the season of Advent, that is last week’s readings all came from the Book of Daniel and the Gospel passages that spoke about the time to come, the coming of the great tribulations and sufferings, the persecutions and the troubles facing the faithful, and how the Lord will come again to deliver His people from the dark times and from their enemies.
This is linked closely with the meaning of Christmas itself, that is a feast celebrating not all the glamour of commercial giving and greed, not a feast celebrating Santa Claus and all the Christmas goodies and the gifts, but instead, it is a feast that is about Christ, from which the name Christmas came from. The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Hope that the world and all creations had long awaited, and in Him, the world that was once bereft of all hope and filled by despair can finally have hope once again.
This was His first coming into the world, the entry of which had been prophesied and foretold by the prophets and by the Lord Himself, Who promised that the Deliverer shall reunite all those who have been scattered and cast away from the Lord’s grace because of their disobedience, and then, by His works, mankind would be healed once again and be brought together to the Lord their Father.
And the Lord Himself has promised that He will come again one more time, for one final time, and this time He will gather all of His faithful and righteous ones to Himself, while all those who have not sided with Him will be rejected and cast out. This is what He wanted us all to know, and this is what we must be vigilant and be careful about, lest we find ourselves on the wrong side of the camp when the Lord comes again.
The celebration of Christmas therefore should not be mistaken for something that is just happening in the past, or even worse, that we even forgot its true intentions and meaning. As a result, many of us have not understood the meaning of Christmas and its importance even as we rejoice and join in the revelry and join in the celebrations. This is a danger that is commonplace now, and the devil’s tool in preventing us from realising the truth.
Yes, it is the marginalisation of God in our own lives, and how our lives have been filled with so much distractions so much so that especially during the time of Christmas, we are too focused on the giving and the revelry, the partying and all the rejoicing, the trumpets and the bells, and then we forget about the very One Whom we ought to celebrate about!
Yes, indeed, it is the birthday anniversary of our Lord Jesus Christ, our God Who had willingly come down upon this world, taking up our own flesh so that through Him the salvation of the world would come, death and sin would be conquered and defeated, and hope comes to all of us. But for all that He had done, He had been rewarded with rejection, ridicule and placed below all the festivities and joys we have in our version of Christmas.
Shall we rethink of our actions and how we approach our Christmas celebrations? There is nothing wrong with celebrations, festivities and joy, as long as we do not forget about the One Whom we ought to celebrate about. It is not a celebration about ourselves, or about pleasures of the flesh, but it is a celebration of the joy we all have because our Lord has come, and in His triumph, He has liberated all of us.
And it is not just about what had passed, but instead, also about what will come in the future. The Lord had indeed come firstly in great humility, and even though He is a King, the King of all the universe, but He came through such means so as to be lower even than the lowest human beings, born in a stable fit only for the animals. Yet, when He comes again, He will come in great glory, and to finally claim a people He had made His own.
Therefore, this season of Advent, we are not just preparing for Christmas, but we are in fact also preparing for the coming of our Lord, Who had promised that He will come again at the end of time. And we do not know when this will happen. Certainly we must not let ourselves to be so preoccupied and so distracted by the many things in this world so as to forget our real intention in this life, that is not to serve ourselves and our own needs first, but rather to give glory to God and to serve Him.
Let us find the true meaning of Christmas and reflect on how we ought to celebrate it well, with true joy, with true and genuine intention and understanding its importance and true meaning, so that our joy may become greater, and our salvation be closer to us, as we know that in all that we say and do, we will always remain true to our faith, and God will find us righteous when He comes again.
Let us not let ourselves be deceived by the devil and let us all learn to resist the temptations of the flesh. Let us not give ourselves to excessive partying, revelry, or even debauchery and orgies of pleasure, but let us give glory to God and refocus all of our celebrations upon Him. May God be with us all. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 