Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened together to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded that the Lord remembers us all His people, all that He has promised us and how God will not abandon those who have been faithful to Him, but that He will lift them out of the darkness and into the light, sending them His salvation and grace, strength and hope, through the servants whom He had appointed, called and chosen from among His people, and in the case of our Scripture passages today, we heard of the examples of two of God’s great servants whom He sent to be with His people at a time of hardship, and to prepare the path for His glorious reign, namely through Samson and St. John the Baptist.

There are indeed many parallels between the story of Samson and St. John the Baptist, that such a connection is explored in our set of Scripture readings today. Both of them had been dedicated to God before they were even born and conceived in their mothers’ womb, and the Lord proclaimed through His Angels, of the coming of those two mighty servants, through whom God would do great deeds among His people. Samson would be one of the Judges of Israel, becoming a leader of the people of God at the time when they were troubled and constantly harassed by the Philistines, leading the Israelites free from their troubles, while St. John the Baptist would be the Herald of the Messiah, guiding and showing God’s people to the path of repentance and freedom from the bondage and dominion of sin, evil and death.

In our first reading today, we heard how Samson’s birth and arrival was announced by God through His Angel, who told his parents that he would be consecrated and dedicated to God, and essentially, he became what was then known as a ‘Nazirite’, that is someone who gave himself or herself to the cause of the Lord completely, and who abstained from worldly corruptions such as wine and strong drink, and led a certain kind of lifestyle such as what Samson, and later on St. John the Baptist would follow. In the Gospel passage we heard then of the similar story of what happened before St. John the Baptist was born, how his birth was announced by the Angel of God, traditionally associated with the Archangel Gabriel. Both Samson and St. John the Baptist were also conceived when their mothers had not been able to conceive for a long time, and had been without hope.

Hence, through their miraculous conception, God removed from their mothers the stain of barrenness, which was actually a taboo and a disgrace in the eyes of many in the community of the people of God. The Lord showed His providence and guidance to them, and also through the coming of His servants, brought a new hope to His people, that just as He promised, He would lead them all into freedom, into the path of light and salvation, where their troubles and hardships would be no more. And even more importantly, both of them also preempt the coming of the even more glorious days of God’s reign over His people, with Samson being one of the last judges, preparing the path for the days of the kingdom of Israel, with David as the most prominent of the Kings, leading Israel into glory and triumph over its enemies, as David himself was remembered for his triumph over Goliath the Philistine, and his victory over them, the same Philistines whom Samson struggled against throughout his life.

In the same way, as we all know, St. John the Baptist is the Herald of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. St. John the Baptist and his coming into the world marked the moment when God revealed to His people just how imminent the coming of the day of His salvation was. Christ Himself is the Heir of David, the One Who would sit upon David’s Throne and restore the people of God, reconciling all of them to His heavenly Father, leading them from the darkness of sin and despair into the light of God’s ways and salvation, grace and hope. And through St. John the Baptist, many came to respond to God’s call and changed themselves, submitting themselves to His will and repenting from their sins, and hence preparing themselves for the coming of the Saviour, through Whom God will save all of His people, all mankind from the path towards damnation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as we heard the story of these two faithful and great servants of God, let us all be reminded of God’s love and compassionate mercy for all of us, just how generous He has been with the efforts He did in order to reach out to us and to be reconciled with us. He never gave up on us although we have often disobeyed Him and rejected His love and kindness. He still patiently reached out to us and cared for us, and because of this, we can have hope in Him, in all the love that He has shown us. The Lord has already given us all so much, although we are still sinners and although we have often hurt and disobeyed Him. Yet, He still called on us all and wanted us to be reconciled with us nonetheless. That is, brothers and sisters, the very reason why we rejoice in Christmas, and why we spend this time of Advent to prepare ourselves well that we may worthily and properly celebrate Christmas as we should.

Now, as we continue to draw ever closer to the end of the Advent season and the beginning of the glorious and joyful Christmas season, let us all therefore reorientate our lives and our focus, that we turn our attention and direction in life, our celebrations and our rejoicing to be focused once again on God and not on all the material things and goods of this world. We can see for ourselves all the extensive merrymaking and festivities surrounding the mostly secular way of how Christmas is celebrated, and while we can indeed rejoice in that way, we must take care to remind ourselves and each other that we do not end up losing sight on what is important and what matters in our celebration of Christmas, which should be focused on Christ and His role in bringing about new Hope in our hearts and minds, as He came into our midst, to dwell among us.

As we reflected upon the lives of Samson and St. John the Baptist, let us all first of all therefore remember God’s love and care for us, that He gave us those faithful servants to help lead and guide us to Himself, and at the same time, let us also reflect upon the obedience and the commitment which each one of them gave to the Lord, in dedicating their whole lives to God and in serving Him wholeheartedly so that we too may also do the same with our own lives. Let us hence make good use of this remaining time of the Advent season to redirect our attention and efforts, and also our focus on the Christmas celebrations and preparations so that we may truly celebrate it with proper understanding and appreciation of how through Christmas, God has brought us towards His salvation and grace, and showed us His perfect and wonderful love.

May the Lord continue to guide us through this remaining time of Advent, and help us to appreciate all that the Lord had done for us because He truly loves us all very much, so that He wants us all to be lifted up and rescued from our fated destruction, forgiven from our sins and be reconciled with Him. Let our actions and deeds be exemplary at all times, and help to inspire our fellow brothers and sisters all around us to be able to live their lives faithfully in accordance with the path that the Lord has shown us as well. May God be with us all and may He bless our every efforts and good works, our every endeavours for His greater glory, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our Scripture readings today as we are getting closer to the celebration of Christmas, we are being reminded of the Lord’s promise of salvation, and how He would lead His people with love once again just as He has once saved them with great might. We heard of the promise of liberation and rescue that the Lord has given His people through the prophet Jeremiah, and its fulfilment in our Gospel today, as the Lord proclaimed the Good News of His salvation through His Angel, Gabriel. And God never went against what He has promised, and He has indeed accomplished, fulfilled and perfected all that He had prepared and meant for those whom He had loved, that is all of us.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the Lord Who would once again save His people from their predicament and sufferings, from their humiliations and downfall, and He would raise them up once again, bless them and lead them down the right path. This promise was indeed significant because at that time, the people of God had been scattered, and many of them had been exiled from their lands, first for most of the ten northern tribes by the Assyrians, and then many among the people of Judah when the Babylonians came and carried out many of the prominent members of the community into exile. The sufferings that they faced were known to God and God never forgot about them even when they had frequently disobeyed and sinned against Him.

At that time, the people’s morale had been at an all-time low, as they had fallen deep into darkness and despair. They had disobeyed the Lord and refused to believe in Him and in the prophets that had been sent to them to call them to repent. And thus the Lord spoke to them yet again through Jeremiah, reminding them that He would save them all still, despite their disobedience, for ultimately, we all must realise that God truly loves each and every one of us, His beloved people. God ultimately desires the good of His people, wanting each and every one of them to find their way to righteousness and goodness through all that He has shown, taught and reminded them, and He did lots of effort to make sure that this happened to them.

Jeremiah was persecuted and opposed because of all that he spoke of, of the ruin of Jerusalem and Judah because of the people’s sins, and everything came to be true, as the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem, its Temple and the whole kingdom of Judah, and led the rest of the people into exile just as the Lord had spoken and revealed through the prophets earlier on. And then, as He has promised, He brought them all back to their lands once again, rescuing them and leading them back to their homeland, and allowing them to regain their honour. Everything that He has promised, all indeed came true, and the people of God, especially those who kept on their faith in their Lord and Master were vindicated and strengthened.

But that did not actually mark the end of what God had revealed through Jeremiah. Instead, it was just a preliminary action and precursor to what He would then do, not just to save the people of Israel, but even more importantly, He would save all of mankind, all the children of Adam and Eve, all those who had been beloved by Him. Just as He has liberated the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, and just as He has liberated their descendants from the slavery in Babylon, thus God wanted to liberate all of His beloved children. God has always cared for all of us, whom He created out of His most generous and overflowing love, and He does not desire any of us to be lost to Him, wanting us to be redeemed and reconciled to Him.

Thus, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Whose coming was proclaimed in our Gospel today by the Archangel Gabriel to Joseph, the descendant of David, all of us have been saved and have seen the salvation of God. The Lord through His Angel has reassured St. Joseph when he found out that Mary, his fiancee had been with a Child before their marriage, that he had nothing to fear and that all that happened was because of the fulfilment of His promises to save His people through the Son to be born of Mary. And it is this which we are preparing carefully and thoroughly through this time and season of Advent, doing whatever we can to welcome the salvation which God has sent unto us through His Son.

And that Son is the reason why we celebrate joyfully in Christmas. We rejoice together because Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God Most High has come into the world and manifested God’s great love and wonders, and thanks to Him, we can hope and be glad and joyful once again. Once we have to endure the humiliation and the horrible consequences and effects for our sins, but through Christ, we have a real solution and way out of the darkness and into the light. This Light and Hope which Christ has brought upon us, we should not take for granted and we should always treasure to the best of our abilities, remembering the ever enduring love which God has always had for each and every one of us.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having seen the Lord’s salvation and His genuine love for us in Christ, His beloved Son, what are we then going to do in order to prepare ourselves well for the proper and appropriate celebration of Christmas? Are we going to just continue to celebrate it like just every other year, and like how the world often observe and celebrate it? Or are we going to elevate our celebration by rejoicing in the true joy of Christmas that we find in Christ alone? We should remember that Christmas is much more than just all the decorations, lights, merrymaking, parties and all the celebrations. Christmas is the pure and great joy that should arise from our hearts and whole beings, having known that we have been saved by what God had done for us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.

Let us all prepare ourselves well for the joyful celebration of Christmas that our joy may truly be complete and full in Christ. Let us all share this same joy with one another, especially with our less fortunate brethren, all those who have suffered and been sorrowful, and strengthen them with the love and hope of Christ. Let us all be the bearers of the true Light of Christmas in our society, through our every faithful actions and deeds. Amen.