Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we hear from the Sacred Scriptures on the proclamation of the coming of the Messiah, Who is the Heir and Son of David, which the Archangel Gabriel first delivered to Mary, His mother, and then also to Joseph, His foster father. Through this, God made it clear to His people that the salvation which He had promised them is coming true, and He was coming to deliver them from the evil one.

For many years, we mankind have lived in suffering in this world as a result of our sins and disobedience against God, and we are earning the bitter fruits of our ancestors’ inability to resist the temptation of the devil, and we have also been put under the thrall of the wicked one, so that sin weighed us down and became a huge stone hanging on our necks, threatening to bring us down into the abyss of darkness, the eternal fire and suffering.

But God does not wish this fate to be ours, as He created us and loved us more than all the other things and beings that He had created, for we all have been crafted in His own image, and He Himself breathed life into us. He has given us life, and therefore, all of us are intended for life with Him, and not to suffer death and suffering itself, instead enjoying forever the fullness of the richness of God’s grace.

Nevertheless, it was our rebellion and desire to follow our heart’s wants and desires which had sundered us from the fullness of God’s love and grace, and we were doomed into suffering on a hard life on earth, toiling without end, and in the end, to be claimed by death, as our bodies return to the dust from which we came from, and there seemed to be no escape from our punishment and our fate.

But God had another path that He had intended for us, that is the path of atonement and forgiveness, and in this, He promised His people that a deliverance will come upon all those who remain true to Him and to their faith in Him. And over the years, God continued to keep up that promise, and renewed again and again, the covenant which He made with them, as He made His covenant with Abraham, with Moses, with David, and through the prophets, made clear His will to the people.

It was through Jesus our Lord that God had made complete and perfect His promises to us, as through Him, a new Hope was shown to us, and in Him, our hearts that were once filled with despair and darkness, could finally see the Light of our Lord once again. And this is the essence of Christmas, the celebration and the joy we experienced, which is truly because our Lord has come to save His people.

The joy of Christmas is not about all the glamour and the glory associated to all the celebrations, the bright lights and all the commercial goods associated with it. Yes, it is a season of festive giving and happiness, joy and celebrations, but do we even remember Who or what we are celebrating it for? Is it for ourselves? Yes, partially for ourselves indeed, but why? Do we know the reason?

It is the joy we feel because of the hope we have received by the coming of our Saviour that is the true reason for our Christmas joy, for He is the true Joy of the world often forgotten by us all, even as we joyfully celebrate this Christmas. This Advent season, a time to prepare for Christmas, let us all commit ourselves to find the way to celebrate Christmas meaningfully in our families and communities, no longer be bound and consumed by the consumer celebration of Christmas, but celebrate it with full understanding of our faith.

May the Lord bless us and keep us in His grace, and may all of us be able to find the true meaning of Christmas in Jesus our Lord, Whose birth had blessed us with a new hope and the salvation He promised us. Let us all strengthen our faith and follow Him in all of His ways. Amen.