Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we enter this period of one week to the date of Christmas Day, we enter into this deeper time of solemn preparation for the Christmas celebration, a period when we deepen our spiritual preparation and contemplation as we are getting ourselves ready to celebrate the true joy of Christmas, the coming of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ into this world, the salvation and eternal life which He has promised to all of us, His beloved people. During this period and time, traditionally the ‘O’ Antiphons are sung in the Church, contemplating upon everything that God had done for our sake, all that He has shown us out of love by the sending of His Son, to fulfill the promises and reassurances He had made to us about our salvation and liberation from sin and death.

That is why we focus our attention more and more upon the figure of the Saviour, the Son of God, the historical Jesus Christ, which is the moment when God made Himself tangible, approachable and visible to us, no longer hidden by the veil of His light and glory, but walking in our very midst, His perfect Love manifested in the flesh, touching our lives and guiding us all to His light and salvation. He has indeed fulfilled what He has promised to us, that the Son of God, the Holy Child would be born to us by a Virgin, His Blessed Mother Mary, so that He would indeed become God Who lives in our midst, God Who is with His people, Emmanuel, the One Whose love for us is so great that He willingly gave us all His most precious gift, in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man.

From the very beginning God had kept on reassuring us and revealing gradually what He intended to do with us and for us, just as we have heard in our Scripture passages today, beginning with the first reading from the ending of the Book of Genesis, where we heard of the final moments of Jacob, the father of all the Israelites, who was also known as Israel. He was then dying in the land of Egypt after having been reunited with his long-lost son Joseph and enjoying the last years of his life being surrounded by his families, by his many sons and their children. And in this part of the Book of Genesis, it was told that Israel, before he passed away gathered all of his family and blessed his sons with various blessings and prayers. And today in particular, the emphasis and focus is placed upon Judah, one of the sons of Israel and the blessings he received.

The house and tribe of Judah had indeed been blessed by God wonderfully and Israel himself had foreseen what God would do for His people and all mankind through this house of Judah, as one day, God would send His Saviour, the Saviour of the whole world through Judah and his descendants, through David, the great King of Israel, who hailed from the tribe of Judah, and to whom God had promised that his kingdom and his house would sit on the Throne of Israel forever. All these promises and reassurances were known to the people of God, who therefore longed for the fulfilment of the Lord’s many promises and words, all of which would indeed come true through Jesus Christ, the One Whom we are all celebrating about this upcoming Christmas time and season, the true reason for Christmas and its great joy.

Then, this is what our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist is speaking about, in which the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour was presented to us. We heard in that long genealogy how the Lord Jesus ultimately was descended from King David, and therefore is the Son of David promised by the Lord to be the One to sit on the Throne of the Kingdom of Israel for eternity, and also then through Judah from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as a fulfilment of what God had promised to all of His faithful servants, with whom He had made His eternal Covenant with, the promise of true and eternal joy for all of God’s people. And last of all, Christ was descended from Adam, the very first man that God had created, and this is significant because Christ is the New Adam through whom God will save the world.

This long line of descent from Adam, Abraham and David was presented by St. Matthew as he wrote his Gospel with the main target audience being the early Christians from the Jewish background, and also for the other Jewish people. As such, when he wrote his Gospel, St. Matthew placed a lot of emphasis in the Lord Jesus being the Jewish Messiah sent into this world to fulfil all the prophecies about Him, as constantly always being renewed through the many prophets and messengers of God. In Christ, all these promises and prophecies had been fulfilled and all of us are reassured of God’s ever generous love and compassion which He has made evident and tangible to us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach ever closer to the coming of the joyful and glorious Christmas season, are we truly ready to celebrate Christmas in its true meaning, significance and joy? Are we willing and capable of focusing ourselves and our rejoicing on the Lord, and be the ones to proclaim the salvation and joy in Christ by our proper celebrations and readiness in our Christmas preparations? All of us as Christians are God’s holy and beloved people, and how we celebrate Christmas will be important as amidst all the much secularised and commercialised celebrations of Christmas, the true meaning and joy of Christmas can easily be lost amidst all the distractions and glamorous rejoicing that do not centre themselves on Christ.

Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord in this remaining time we have been given this season of Advent so that all of us may truly be prepared and ready, and use this chance and time that has been given to us well so that we may truly rejoice this upcoming Christmas season with the right focus on Christ, and proclaiming to all the joy we have received through His coming into this world, Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, He Who has shown us all the perfect manifestation of the love of God, and through Whom all of us have received the assurance of eternal life and true joy with God. May our Advent journey and preparations be truly fruitful and blessed by God, now and always. Amen.