Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about God’s proclamation of the coming of His salvation to His people which He made through two of His servants, the first of which is Samson, who was famous for his great strength and courage, and which we often know as someone who combatted against lions and triumphed against them, and then also St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah, who prepared the way for the coming of the world’s Saviour.
On this day, we heard the message of hope, amidst all the darkness of the world. For at the time of Samson’s conception and birth, the people of Israel had been subjugated by the Philistines, a warlike people who constantly waged wars against the people of God, enslaved them and brought them much suffering. And the people of God longed for liberation and cried out for God’s mercy, and the Lord heard them.
And through Samson, God worked His power, just as He once through Moses worked to liberate His people from the suffering and enslavement by the Egyptians. With His power and might He brought His own people out of Egypt into the land which He had promised to their ancestors, and then at the time of Samson, when the people of God were again in trouble and were persecuted, God made His will manifest through Samson, to whom He granted the strength to defeat the Philistines.
And then, in order to fulfil all the promises which He had made to mankind since the beginning of time, He sent once and for all, the Final and Great Deliverer and Saviour, through Whom all of mankind, all of creation would be made free from the greatest slavery to have ever implicated us, that is the slavery of our souls by sin, and by the wickedness and the evils which the devil had planted in us through his temptations and lies.
While the slavery of the people of Israel by the Egyptians, their subjugation by their neighbours, the Philistines, and the Assyrians and the Babylonians in the later era were painful and difficult for the people of God, but these only affected the body and not the eternal soul. And while these people might inflict pain on the body and the flesh, but they could not harm the soul, and eventually the suffering inflicted were only temporary, for as long as the people of God remained faithful and true to their Lord, they would be safe.
However, sin is a far greater threat to us, since sin afflicts the soul itself, and as long as we are tainted by sin, corrupted by the evils of this world, we will never be free, even though our bodies and our flesh may be free in the sight of this world. This is why, even though we all may be healthy and good in appearance, but truly deep inside all of us are sick, sickened by the disease of sin that is slowly eating away at our soul.
And the effects of sin last forever, for sin leads to death, and death in the state of sin leads to eternal death, that is total and complete separation from the love and mercy of God, into the eternal hell without any hope for redemption or escape. And this is not what God wants from us, and it is not what He desires for us. For He Who loves us all will not want to see us fall into eternal darkness and be lost from Him forever, and thus He has done many things in order to bring us back into His embrace once again.
And thus, as we approach the celebration of Christmas which will be in less than a week’s time, let us all reflect on what we truly celebrate in this Christmas season. Again, I would like us to reflect on our own actions and how we approach Christmas. Did we celebrate Christmas because we are happy to be part of the festive celebrations and to receive all the gifts we received from one another? Or are we genuinely happy because we know that through Christmas we who once despaired, have finally gotten a new hope?
Christmas is Joy, and Christmas is Hope, and Christmas is Peace and Love, which are the aspects that the four Sundays of Advent are focusing on in order to help us to understand its true meaning. Christmas is truly not about just ourselves and whatever we do in preparing for it, we should not lose sight in Christ, for Whom we actually celebrate, for He has indeed come as a Saviour, a Deliverer, a Shepherd and a Guide to help bring us out from the abyss of sin and darkness and into the eternal light.
Just as He had liberated His people from the oppression of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians long ago, and from the oppression of the Philistines, the Assyrians and the Babylonians, bringing them back from their exiles, He too have endeavoured to save not just one people or one race, but the entire humanity, all of His beloved children, all of whom had been afflicted by sin and sundered from Him, but because of His great love, He had endeavoured to reunite us with Himself.
Let us all thank the Lord for His love, His dedication and His commitment for us this Christmas, and let us all devote ourselves to be ever more devoted and committed servants and followers of our Lord, abandoning our old ways of sin and embracing the fullness of His truth and His ways, obeying Him in all things. God bless us all. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 