Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the fourth and last of the Sundays of Advent, on which occasion we focus ourselves on the aspect and theme of Love, the last one among the themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love that we reflect upon each Sundays in this time and season of Advent. On this Sunday we focus on the Love of God which has been manifested to us in His Son, incarnate in the flesh, to become the perfect manifestation of His love in our midst. Yes, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Whose coming into this world we celebrate this Christmas, is the One Who showed us all what God’s love is all about, love that is always ever enduring, love that never ceases, ever generous and which He has always lavished on each and every one of us, His precious and beloved ones.

And this emphasis on the theme of Love at the very last Sunday of Advent also has its significance as Love is also the most important one amongst the all the Christian virtues and values, the most important of all the fruits of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of all that is good from God. Without Love then there can be neither Hope, nor Peace, nor Joy. True Hope, Peace and Joy have been shown and given to us most generously by the Lord Himself through His Beloved Son, Whom He sent into our midst, because God so loved the world that He gave us His only Begotten Son, so that all those who believe in Him may not perish but has eternal life, and that was what St. John wrote in his Gospel in the famous quote from the third chapter of the Gospel of St. John, verse sixteen. It is thanks to God’s Love, that all of us have Hope, the Hope for eternal Peace and true Joy.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Micah in which God spoke to His people, the Israelites of the coming of His salvation from the land of Judah, at Bethlehem Ephrata, a small town where David once hailed from before he became the King of all Israel. It was from that city that the Saviour would also be born at, and everything indeed came true several centuries after the Lord had promised it to the people through the prophet Micah. The Lord would send His Son to this world to manifest His love, not through great and loud rejoicing, acclamation or proclamations, but rather through a small, little and vulnerable Child, born in a stable at Bethlehem over two millennia ago, the Holy Child that would be the Saviour of all mankind.

By making Himself small and vulnerable, He has shown us just how much He desire to love all of us. He wants to embrace us so much that He willingly took up our human nature and existence, being incarnate in the flesh, Love Himself manifested in the Christ-Child, being shown to all of us, that God truly cared for all of us, and He has never abandoned us to the darkness and sin. And we heard of His purpose of coming into this world through the second reading passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of this Epistle spoke of the sacrifice and offering which Christ Our Lord and Saviour has offered on our behalf, as the one perfect sacrificial offering that is the only one worthy enough for the atonement of all of our many sins, faults and wickedness, to redeem us from all of those.

And even more importantly, Christ obeyed His Father’s will perfectly, that He as the new Man, the new Adam, as contrasted to the old and first Adam, rejected the temptations of disobedience and sin, of any worldly comforts and pleasures which we have often fallen to and embraced, instead of God’s love, truth and mercy. The author also spoke of the obedience of Christ and His sacrifice which has overridden the original interpretation of the commandments and Law of God as practiced by the Jewish people and their ancestors, which required them to offer sin offerings and sacrifices regularly at the Temple, for the one ultimate Sacrifice of Our Lord on His Cross is all that is sufficient to redeem all of us, all mankind past, present and future from our innumerable sins, something that no animal offerings or blood can offer us.

That is because Christ, out of His Love for His heavenly Father and for each and every one of us, being the manifestation of God’s Love in our midst have offered His own Most Precious Blood, the Blood of the Lamb of God, and at the same time acting as our One and Eternal High Priest, offering all these, His broken Precious Body and outpoured Precious Blood for the salvation of all. Through this perfect act of selfless and ultimate love, obedience and faith, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, the incarnate Son of God has opened for us the path to eternal life and to full reconciliation with God, our loving Father and Creator. None of this would have been possible without the Love of God, the love that He has always had for us, ever enduring even despite our frequent disobedience and rebellions against Him.

In our Gospel passage this Sunday, we then heard of the moment when Mary visited Elizabeth when both of them were pregnant, Mary with the Holy Child and Saviour in her womb, while Elizabeth was bearing St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Saviour in her. Through their interaction and exchanges, we can see the great joy and happiness that they had shown, representing all the joy and happiness that all of us should have in God as well because of everything that He had done for us, His beloved ones. God has never stopped loving us, and He has always fulfilled His promises, and He watched over every one of us and listened to the plight of the needy. The miraculous occasions of the pregnancy of both Mary and Elizabeth were the confirmation of this great love that God has for all of us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard and discussed from our Scripture passages this Sunday, therefore we are all reminded that Christmas is truly all about Love, the Love that God has never ceased to show us all, and which He has manifested to us through His Son, and reaffirmed fully at the moment of the Passion of the Lord, the time when He offered His life in exchange for ours, laying down His life for us all sinners, showing the greatest and most generous love. That is why as we all prepare ourselves for the celebrations and joyful occasion of Christmas season and time, let us all remind ourselves constantly that everything that we are rejoicing for, all of these are only possible thanks to the most generous and selfless love from God.

It means that we should also show this love in our Christmas celebrations and festivities, remembering to share the joy we have to one another, to everyone around us especially to those who are suffering and enduring challenges and difficulties, and also all those who may not be so fortunate and blessed, and may not be able to rejoice much this coming Christmas season. We must remember everyone around us, all those who are in need of our love and attention, our help and care so that we may indeed be able to share the joy and blessings that God has given us most generously. May all of us grow ever stronger in our love for both God and for one another just as God Himself has loved us all and shown us how we can love everyone around us, now and always. Amen.