Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14
Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.
Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.
The ways of the Lord are love and faithfulness for those who keep His covenant and precepts. The Lord gives advice to those who revere Him and makes His covenant known to them.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Malachi 3 : 1-4, 23-24
Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The Envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.
He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.
I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the day of YHVH comes, for it will be a great and terrible day. He will reconcile parents with their children, and the children with their parents, so that I may not have to curse this land when I come.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the joy that each one of us should have in the Lord, keeping in mind that it is through His work and His coming into our midst that we celebrate at Christmas which brought us all a new hope and assurance of happiness and salvation, grace and all the things that can only come through Him, and we heard of that assurance today in our Scripture passages in which we heard of what the Lord had done to His faithful servants, to Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, as well as to Mary, the Mother of God, of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Our Saviour.
In our first reading today, we heard the story of Hannah, and how she thanked the Lord for all that He had done for her, in answering her prayers and the wishes she had for a son. The Lord granted her the wish she wanted, after she had endured scorn and ridicule from the other wife of her husband, Penninah, who often teased her for not having a son despite being more beloved by her husband. God lifted the veil of shame from Hannah, and gave her a son that would become a great prophet in Israel and also the last of the great Judges before the days of the Kings. Hence, today we heard Hannah in great joy as she went to the House of God bringing the young Samuel to offer him to the service of the Lord just as she has promised.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of Mary and her great song of thanksgiving, thanking God for everything that she has received from God, all the graces and wonders she had been blessed with, to be the one entrusted as the Mother of God and the Mother of the Saviour of the whole world. In that Magnificat, the great song of joy which Mary sang filled with the Holy Spirit, is contained the great joy that she has upon becoming the Mother of the Saviour, as well as the great joy representing mankind having finally seen the salvation of God, long awaited and expected by the people, to whom God had promised His salvation from the very beginning of time, when He promised them that He would deliver them from the dominion and bondage of sin.
Through Mary’s song, we have been reminded what Christmas is all about, that is a most joyful rejoicing and celebration that we carry out because we have seen the love and salvation that the Lord has brought into our midst, in the coming of Christ, His only begotten Son, Our Lord and Saviour. By His coming and entry into the world, Christ has shown us the Love of God manifested and made flesh, tangible and approachable to us. No longer that God is distant and unapproachable by us, as He has become Emmanuel, God is with us, and He has come to dwell amongst us, sharing with us our joy and sorrow, walking amongst us and touching our lives. He has become the Hope for us, lifting us out of the darkness and into His everlasting light and grace.
Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach ever closer to Christmas, all of us should spend some time to reflect on our preparations for Christmas, and whether we have already prepared ourselves well and properly for the celebration of Christmas, or whether we have not gotten ourselves properly ready yet, and have not done our right actions to be truly able to celebrate Christmas worthily and well. We can see all around us just how Christmas is celebrated in a mostly worldly and secular way, without Christ and His Presence, and where people immersed themselves often in excessive merrymaking and festivities while forgetting why we even celebrate Christmas itself in the first place.
Christmas is not about all the festivities and celebrations, all the joyful gift exchanges and the excesses of our feasting and partying. Yes, we can definitely do all of that, and we should indeed rejoice in Christmas. But we must always remember that after all, everything happened because of what the Lord had done in giving us His only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to be our Saviour. It is because Christ has been born into this world that we have seen the Light of God’s salvation and the Hope out of the darkness of sin, and that is why we rejoice so greatly, all because of the joy of this new life which God has promised us all who believed in Him, that through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, everyone will receive the sure guarantee of everlasting joy and grace.
That is why as Christians, each one of us have to lead by example and do our best to show others what the true meaning and spirit of Christmas is all about. Christmas is not about partying excessively or rejoicing in ways that we are often accustomed to. It is a time for us to give thanks to God for having shown us such a great love and kindness by giving us His Son, to be our Saviour, and we should be like Hannah and Mary, who gave their heartfelt thanks and glorified God, and thanked Him for all that He had done for them. We must therefore place the Lord at the very centre and as the focus of our existence, our way of life and also our way of celebrating the upcoming Christmas season. We have to make sure that we understand fully what the true joy of Christmas is all about.
May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, empowering us with the love and courage to do our best in our lives, to walk in His path and to follow Him ever more faithfully. Through our faithful and worthy Christmas celebrations, where Christ is at the centre of our joy, let us all inspire more and more people that each one of us may be the shining beacons of God’s hope, light and truth. May all of us draw ever closer to God and be blessed as we approach the glorious and joyful season of Christmas. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 1 : 46-56
And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God, my Saviour! He has looked down upon His servant, in her lowliness, and people, forever, will call me blessed.”
“The Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His Name! From age to age, His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden.”
“He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”
Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months, and then returned home.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
1 Samuel 2 : 1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd
My heart exults in YHVH, I feel strong in my God. I rejoice and laugh at my enemies for You came with power to save me.
The bow of the mighty is broken, but the weak are girded with strength. The well-fed must labour for bread, but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has borne seven children, but the proud mother is left alone.
YHVH is Lord of life and death. He brings down to the grave and raises up. YHVH makes poor and makes rich, He brings low and He exalts.
He lifts up the lowly from the dust, and raises the poor from the ash heap; they will be called to the company of princes, and inherit a seat of honour.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
1 Samuel 1 : 24-28
When the child was weaned, Hannah took him with her along with a three year old bull, a measure of flour and a flask of wine, and she brought him to YHVH’s house of Shiloh. The child was still young.
After they had slain the bull, they brought the child to Eli. Hannah exclaimed : “Oh, my lord, look! I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to YHVH. I asked for this child and YHVH granted me the favour I begged of Him. I think YHVH is now asking for this child. As long as he lives, he belongs to YHVH.”
And they worshipped YHVH there.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures and as we almost come to the end of the current season of Advent with this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we are all reminded yet again of the true reason for our great expectations of joy and happiness with the upcoming Christmas season, which is about to come very soon in just a few days’ time. We are reminded this Sunday as we focus on the theme of Love on this last Sunday of Advent, that why we rejoice this Christmas and why we celebrate it all came to rest on the very fact that God’s love for every one of us endures, even throughout time and history, and through what He has done most generously on our behalf, He has sent unto us the ultimate gift of Love in His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.
In our first reading this Sunday, we are reminded through the reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which God spoke to King Ahaz of Judah through Isaiah regarding the Sign that He would show to him and to all of His people in Judah, but which Ahaz then refused to obey or listen to. Isaiah told Ahaz to ask God for a Sign, the Sign that God would willingly and generously showed to His beloved ones, to show them the path of Hope and Light out of the darkness. But King Ahaz refused to ask for a Sign, and said that he would not put God to the test. This was followed immediately by a stern rebuke from Isaiah to Ahaz as he and many of his predecessors had disobeyed the Lord and put the Lord to the test so many times, and misled and misguided the people of God down the wrong path that what he had said, was truly a hypocrite’s word.
Not only that, but it might even be seen as King Ahaz not having faith and trust in God, as he would likely prefer to trust more in various things and worldly means to secure his reign and rule rather than to follow the Lord and His ways. Ahaz himself was one of the kings who was considered and counted among the ‘wicked’ ones as he led the people into the path of sin and disobedience, abandoning the Lord their God and worshipping instead the pagan idols and demons, which were placed upon the Lord’s sacred Altar, desecrating the holy places and also neglecting the observance of the Law and commandments of the Lord. Thus, Isaiah proclaimed God’s words that the Sign would indeed one day come, that all those who eventually witnessed it, would believe that indeed, God is the one and only True God, and not all the false idols that Ahaz and the people of Judah had worshipped.
On the contrary, if we remember the Gospel passage today, we heard of the Annunciation of Mary, the moment when the Archangel Gabriel proclaimed the Good News of God to Mary, that she would become the Mother of God, as she had been chosen by God to be the one through whom God’s own begotten Son, the Son of God, Incarnate in the flesh and becoming the Son of Man, have become the manifestation and personification of God’s eternal and ever-enduring love for us. This is the moment when the promise and the words of God that He had spoken through Isaiah before King Ahaz came to be fulfilled, as Mary was the Virgin that God spoke of, who would be bearing a Child, and this Child would be called Emmanuel, ‘God is with us’. This alone has already shown us that the Child that Mary bore within her, is truly not just like any other ordinary children.
Most importantly, as contrasted with the attitude showed by King Ahaz, Mary obeyed the Lord and believed in Him wholeheartedly, although she did wonder why she among all the women had been entrusted with such a responsibility. Yet, what she asked the Archangel Gabriel was made out of natural uncertainty and honest bewilderment as such a great revelation was made before her, not withstanding the fact that Mary was a mere young woman and virgin from the small town of Nazareth in Galilee, a very unimportant place and town, and herself coming from a relatively unknown origin. All of that must have obviously been hard to reconcile at the first moment, when Mary heard of the Good News from the Archangel Gabriel, and hence, her question of how it would be possible for that to happen to her, considering that she was still a virgin, to bear a Son.
God revealed to Mary all that He would do through His Archangel Gabriel, and what is important is how Mary responded to all of that. Unlike King Ahaz who refused to obey the Lord, His will and commandments, His request and wish, Mary gave herself totally to the Lord and accepted everything that God had planned to happen through her. Through her response that she is the ‘handmaid of the Lord’ and that it may be done unto her as the Lord has willed it, Mary’s yes to the Lord made through His Archangel Gabriel was the catalyst that sparked the beginning of the final fulfilment of God’s long awaited salvation and liberation for His people. Through Mary’s acceptance of her role in becoming the Mother of God and Saviour of the whole world, she has shown us all that each and every one of us as Christians, should also obey the Lord, listen to Him and His commands, Law and will.
From our second reading this Sunday, in addition, we have also heard of the words of the Apostle St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Rome in which he reiterated that we all as Christians believe in the salvation which God has generously provided for all of us through His own Begotten and most Beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God made Man. And it is through His coming into this world that has restored joy and hope to all of us. And it is of this same Saviour and Holy One of God that St. Paul had laboured and worked hard to proclaim the Good News of God, the salvation which has been accomplished and fulfilled through Christ. In the same way therefore, all of us are reminded that in our lives and in how we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christmas, we should always exude the genuine faith and love for God, the true reason and Joy of Christmas.
Let us all reflect upon the Scripture passages we have received and heard today, and let us remember and appreciate the Love which God has always manifested to us, and which He has provided to us perfectly in His Son, and as we continue to prepare ourselves thoroughly for the upcoming Christmas season, let us all strive to put the Lord Jesus, the true Reason and Joy of Christmas, at the centre and focus of everything that we have prepared and all that we will celebrate. Let us all continue to do our best to make our Christmas joy be full of the Love of God, and be that source of Love ourselves in everything we do, in our every actions and endeavours to everyone around us, especially to those who have been lacking in love and been neglected, and keep in mind those who cannot celebrate Christmas the way we do.
May the Lord be with us always and bless our journey of this remaining Advent time and season, and may He continue to love us all generously and patiently, as we continue embarking on this journey of faith towards His salvation and eternal life. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 1 : 18-24
This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to disgrace her.
While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, she has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ fo He will save His people from their sins.”
All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means : God-with-us. When Joseph awoke, he did what the Angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Romans 1 : 1-7
From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, an Apostle, called and set apart for God’s Good News, the very promises He foretold through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures, regarding His Son, Who was born in the flesh a descendant of David, and has been recognised as the Son of God, endowed with Power, upon rising from the dead, through the Holy Spirit.
Through Him, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and for the sake of His Name, we received grace, and mission in all the nations, for them to accept the faith. All of you, the elected of Christ, are part of them, you, the beloved God in Rome, called to be holy : May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, give you grace and peace.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.
Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.
They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.
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