Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we listen to the words of the Sacred Scriptures telling us about Christ our Lord and His origins in the accounts of the world and men. God had come into the world through the means of His blessed mother Mary, through Whom He assumed the flesh of Man, and became one like us.

Through the sons of Adam He had come forth into the world, and then through the line of Abraham, the faithful servant and beloved child of God, He had come into the world in order to fulfil the covenant and the promise which He had made with him. Then, God also fulfilled the promises He made to David, the faithful king and servant of God, by being born into His line and family as was promised.

And one may think that because Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, but merely His foster-father, then Jesus was not the Messiah because He is not of the family of David, as the prophets had prophesied that the Messiah is also the Son of David. Yet, in the Jewish customs and laws, a legal father, even though he was not the biological father, but as long as he is legally married to the mother, he is the father of the child, and the child is the legal and rightful heir of the father.

Thus, this is how God made Himself manifest into the world, by His choice of the Holy Family of Mary and Joseph, to be the ones through whom He would descend into the world and save it. By fulfilling the promises He had made to His beloved people, He endeavoured to bring all of them to Himself, and bring them to salvation and eternal life which can only be found in Him.

All these are to remind us that our Lord loves all of us, and it is His desire that we should be reconciled to Himself and not be condemned for all of the wickedness and sins that we have committed. Yet, many of us willingly and openly rejected His love and mercy, and we instead walk on our own paths, following our own desires and wants, and refusing to believe in Him and refusing to listen to Him whose words is our salvation.

Now the challenge is upon us all, brethren, whether we are to walk on the same path as all those who have rejected the Lord and instead chose the ways of this world, that is often contrary to the ways of the Lord, that is the way that does not show our obedience to the will of God. God has been so kind such as to provide us with the means to salvation and the free offer of forgiveness that He had granted us, and yet, we spurned His love and rejected all these gifts in exchange for a life of pleasure and wickedness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we draw closer to Christmas and as we enter this one last week of Advent, let us all reflect on the nature of Christmas, what it truly means for us, and how we are going to celebrate that great day and occasion, when our Lord Himself came into this world in order to save it and liberate us from all of our afflictions.

Do we celebrate Christmas because we like to have all the fun and the joy for ourselves? For all the new clothes, gifts and all the glamours the world had associated with it? Or do we want to celebrate Christmas as a glorious and great thanksgiving for the love which our God has given us? Remember, as St. John himself had written in his Gospel, that the Lord so loved the world, that He has given us His only Son, so that through Him all may be saved and have eternal life.

Let us all keep these in mind even as we continue to live through our lives, and as we prepare to celebrate Christmas again this year. Let us not forget Who Christmas was made for, and Who Christmas was truly celebrating. It was a celebration of God’s love, the love He had shown us, and thus we too, should show the same love to one another, sharing all the graces and blessings He had given us.

May our loving Father and Almighty God be with us always, and may He strengthen our faith in Him, that in all things we may realise the great graces and blessings we have received. God bless us all. Amen.