3rd Week of Advent

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Saturday, 18 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 23 : 5-8

YHVH further says, “The day is coming when I will raise up a King Who is David’s righteous successor. He will rule wisely and govern with justice and righteousness. That will be a grandiose era when Judah will enjoy peace and Israel will live in safety. He will be called YHVH-Our-Justice!”

“The days are coming,” says YHVH, “when people shall no longer swear by YHVH as the Living God Who freed the people of Israel from the land of Egypt. Rather, they will swear by YHVH as the Living God Who restored the descendants of Israel from the northern empire and from all the lands where He had driven them, to live again in their own land!”

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Friday, 17 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the moment when we are just one week away from Christmas. We are therefore being expressly reminded of why we celebrate Christmas and what we are preparing for in this season and time of Advent. It is important that we really understand this so that we may enter into the great celebrations and joy of Christmas with the right intention and the right purpose, that we may appreciate truly the true meaning of Christmas.

We have heard from our Scripture passages today the truth about the identity of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, born into this world as the Son and Heir of Adam, Abraham and David, as prominently highlighted in our Gospel passage today, in the entire genealogy or lineage of our Lord Himself from the very first days of mankind in Adam and through to his descendants, and to Abraham, the father of nations, and then through Israel and to David, the great King of Israel, to whom the Lord had promised that his kingdom and house would last forever.

Then in our first reading passage today we heard how Jacob, also known as Israel, was giving his last words and wishes, and blessings to all of his sons. He gave them his last exhortation and words of God’s wisdom, and it was at that very same occasion that Jacob spoke peculiarly regarding Judah, one of his sons, saying that the sceptre of power and rule shall remain in Judah, and how the reign over the people of God shall remain in his house forever, a promise that came true as David, the great king of Israel was born from the tribe of Judah, to whom God renewed the same promises He had made.

The Lord Jesus was thus born into the House of David, as His long promised Heir, born into the family of Joseph, the heir-general of King David, the foster-father of the Lord. It is through the Lord Jesus, Son of God Most High and Son of Man alike that God has revealed fully His intentions to us, His everlasting and enduring love for each and every one of us. God gave us all His only begotten Son that through Him and His actions, His perfect obedience and the ultimate loving sacrifice that He would make and offer on the Cross, God would be reconciled with us and we shall see His glory and receive true joy from Him.

That is why as we enter into this final stretch of the Advent season, we are all called to spend the time to reflect carefully on how we have been preparing ourselves to welcome the Lord at Christmas. For Christmas is not just merely a celebration of the Lord’s historical coming into this world, but even more importantly, is the celebration of the Light and Hope that He has brought upon each and every one of us, His people, who are still living in the darkness of this world. He has come into our midst, bearing forth His love manifested before us, that we may see and come to know of God’s love for us.

Have we loved God in the same way as He has loved us, brothers and sisters in Christ? God has always ever generously extended His love and compassion towards us, but we often disregarded His love and ignored Him. How many of us have not even factored Him into our celebrations? In our preparations to celebrate Christmas, with all its joyous activities. We must not forget that the Lord must be at the centre of all of our joy and festivities in Christmas. After all, it was God’s most wondrous gift to us that He had given us to redeem us and to bring us once again back into His loving embrace.

Many of us do not really know or understand the true significance of Christmas, and this became serious obstacle preventing us from being able to celebrate Christmas worthily and meaningfully. Too many of us are focused too much on the festivities and merrymaking that we treat it just like another holiday and time to celebrate. Many of us have also forgotten what Christmas truly means, and in the way we celebrate it, we focus excessively and model our celebrations after the secular Christmas commemorations which are plenty all over around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore make the effort from this day onwards to reorientate ourselves around our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Let us love Him and serve Him ever more faithfully with each and every passing moments. Let us also make our upcoming Christmas celebrations one that is truly focused on Our Lord and one that is really worthy of welcoming the Lord into our midst, as we must remember that Christmas is not just about celebrating our Lord’s historical coming into this world, but more importantly is about welcoming Him into our hearts, into our families and homes.

May the Lord continue to guide us in all of our endeavours, and help us as we continue to journey through this season of Advent, that we may come to celebrate His upcoming Nativity with great joy and true understanding of how much He has loved us all these while, and how by His coming into our midst at Christmas, He has shown us a new Hope and Light, to dispel the darkness and despair of our lives. May God bless us always, now and evermore. Amen.

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Friday, 17 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 1 : 1-17

This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.

Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings : Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.

Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus Who is called the Christ – the Messiah. There were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.

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Friday, 17 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Let the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills justice. He will defend the cause of the poor, deliver the children of the needy.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

May His Name endure forever; may His Name be as lasting as the sun. All the races will boast about Him, and He will be blessed by all nations.

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Friday, 17 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Genesis 49 : 1-2, 8-10

Jacob then called his sons and said, “Gather round, sons of Jacob. And listen to your father Israel!”

“Judah, your brothers will praise you! You shall seize your enemies by the neck! Your father’s sons shall bow before you. Judah, a young lion! You return from the prey, my son! Like a lion he stoops and crouches, and like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?”

“The sceptre shall not be taken from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to Whom it belongs, and Who has the obedience of the nations.”

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Thursday, 16 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listen to the words of the Lord contained in the Sacred Scriptures, we are yet again reminded repeatedly as we have often been throughout this season of Advent, to recall the great love that God has shown us, the mercy and grace that He has bestowed upon us throughout our lives, all the opportunities and chances that He has given us. He has always been so kind and generous to us, but it is we who often disregarded His kindness and love, spurned His mercy and generosity.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard of the words of encouragement of the Lord Who reminded His people that His love is always upon them and that they are always His precious and beloved ones no matter what. He reminded them all, who have faced sufferings and challenges, trials and tribulations that they endured, how all of those will pass and they will once again enjoy the bounty of God’s grace and blessings. He calls on all of them to have faith in Him and to entrust themselves in His love.

God will not abandon His faithful ones and He will always care for them and provide for them, just as He has repeatedly done in the past, throughout our history. He has always loved us despite the many less than faithful attitudes that we have shown Him, our stubbornness and constant refusal to embrace His love, compassion and mercy. He still loves us even though we have sinned and disobeyed Him, and sent us all the promised Saviour, His own most beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to save us from our fated destruction and to free us from facing the fate of eternal damnation.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the mention of St. John the Baptist by the Lord Himself, Who spoke wonderfully about the one who had come before Him to prepare His way among the people of God. St. John the Baptist was indeed the Herald of the Messiah, the one prophesied to usher in the time of God’s great grace and salvation. He did all he could, obeying the mission entrusted to him, so that the people who heard him and his cries for repentance may realise their sinfulness and need for God’s mercy and forgiveness, and therefore seek to be reconciled to Him.

By speaking of St. John the Baptist and by affirming and praising his efforts, the Lord Himself has also reassured us that His time of grace and salvation has come upon us, and He has fulfilled the promises which He had made earlier through His many prophets and messengers. He would not abandon all of us in the darkness, but will always do His best to reach out to us and to gather us to Himself. That is why God gave us the sure path to eternal life and sent us His Son, the reason why we celebrate in the upcoming Christmas season, and why we prepare ourselves this time of Advent, to prepare our hearts, our minds and our whole beings to welcome the Lord.

That is why we are reminded today, that as we progress through this season of Advent we must really spend the time to reflect on what Christmas truly means to all of us, and how we are going to celebrate it. Are we going to give in to the excesses of Christmas merrymaking and celebrations and end up making it into a celebration of our own ego and desires, rather than to celebrate it for its true meaning and importance to us? The Lord’s coming into our midst in this world is the true significance of Christmas as because of that, all of us have hope once again through Him.

It is not wrong to celebrate Christmas most joyfully and indeed, we should celebrate it to the best of our ability, but we must always centre everything on the Lord, the One Whose birth is what Christmas is all about. We rejoice not because we like all the parties and celebrations, and not because we expect the finest food and things, gifts and presents, but because we know that through the Lord we have seen His light and hope, that in the darkness of our world, God’s light will still triumph together with us. That is the true essence of Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us all therefore make good use of these remaining few days of Advent to carefully reflect and discern if we are truly ready to celebrate Christmas worthily and properly, and we should do our best to prepare ourselves if we are not yet ready to welcome the Lord with all of our heart. And let us also share the joy we have through Christ, our Christmas joy with one another, especially when there are just so many people out there who may now be suffering or sorrowful, and our brothers and sisters out there who may not be able to celebrate Christmas the way we are celebrating it. May God be with us all always, and may He bless each and every one of us, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 16 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 7 : 24-30

At that time, when John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began speaking to the people about John. And He said, “What did you want to see, when you went to the desert? A reed blowing in the wind? What was there to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? But people who wear fine clothes and enjoy delicate food are found in palaces.

What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. For John is the one foretold in Scripture in these words : I am sending My messenger ahead of You to prepare Your way. No one may be found greater than John among those born of women, but, I tell you, the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

All the people listening to Him, even the tax collectors, had acknowledged the will of God in receiving the baptism of John, whereas the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, in not letting themselves be baptised by him, ignored the will of God.

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Thursday, 16 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 29 : 2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

I extol You, o Lord, for You have rescued me; my enemies will not gloat over me. O Lord, You have brought me up from the grave, You gave me life when I was going to the pit.

Sing to the Lord, o you His saints, give thanks and praise to His holy Name. For His anger lasts but a little while, and His kindness all through life. Weeping may tarry for the night, but rejoicing comes with the dawn.

Hear, o Lord, and have mercy on me; o Lord, be my Protector. But now, You have turned my mourning into rejoicing. O Lord my God, forever will I give You thanks.

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Thursday, 16 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 54 : 1-10

Rejoice, o barren woman who has not given birth; sing and shout for joy, you who never had children, for more are the children of the rejected woman than the children of the married wife, says YHVH.

Enlarge the space for your tent, stretch out your hangings, lengthen your ropes and strengthen your stakes, for you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will take possession of the nations and inhabit cities that have been abandoned.

Do not be afraid for you will not be deceived, do not be ashamed for you will not be disgraced. You will forget the shame of your youth; no longer will you remember the disgrace of your widowhood. For your Maker is to marry you : YHVH Sabaoth is His Name. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel : He is called God of all the earth.

For YHVH has called you back as one forsaken and grieved in spirit. Who could abandon His first beloved? says your God. For a brief moment I have abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will gather My people. For a moment, in an outburst of anger, I hid My face from you, but with everlasting love I have had mercy on you, says YHVH, your Redeemer.

This is for me like Noah’s waters, when I swore that they would no more flood the earth; so now I swear not to be angry with you and never again to rebuke you. The mountains may depart and the hills be moved, but never will My love depart from you nor My covenant of peace be removed, says YHVH Whose compassion is for you.

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Wednesday, 15 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of God and His enduring love for us, the salvation that He has presented to us and the generosity by which He has always cared for us and provided for our needs. He has always watched over us and has done everything for us, for our salvation and eternal and true happiness, together with Him in eternal life.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of Lord reminding His people that He is the One and only God and Creator of all the whole Universe. He is their God and they are His people. All of us are also reminded of this same truth, and are reminded how God alone is worthy of our worship and our adoration. He has created us out of love, which endured all these time despite of our lack of faith and our constant disobedience and waywardness. He has always looked after us and sought for us to return to His loving embrace.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the encounter between the Lord Jesus and two of the disciples and followers of St. John the Baptist. Those disciples asked the Lord with the question from the St. John the Baptist, inquiring whether He was indeed the One that had been predicted to come, the Messiah or Saviour of the world, or whether the Messiah was still yet to come. St. John the Baptist had been sent into this world ahead of the Lord to proclaim His coming and to prepare His way, but even he did not know fully who the Messiah would be.

This is the case even though St. John the Baptist himself had baptised the Lord at the Jordan, and recognising Him as the One Whose coming he was proclaiming before the people. St. John the Baptist was in fact just making sure that the One Whose coming he had been preparing for, had indeed come, and therefore the time of mankind’s salvation was already at hand. The Lord told them that everything had happened as God Himself had said would happen, all the miracles and wonderful works that had taken place, and they were evidences enough to prove the truth about His coming.

Now, having heard all of these words from the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of what we are all supposed to do this season of Advent, to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christmas. We are just another ten days away from Christmas, and yet, if we ask ourselves, are we ready for Christmas?, can we surely give a definitive yes as an answer? We may think that we are ready for Christmas and all are set and prepared, but in truth, Christmas is not as much about the celebrations and feasts, but rather, most importantly, it is about the state of our hearts, minds, our whole body and soul.

We may have prepared everything needed for our Christmas festivities and celebrations, all the things that we planned to do for our Christmas parties and merrymaking. Yet, are we ready to welcome Christ, Our Lord Himself this Christmas? Are we ready to welcome Him into our hearts, into our families and houses, into our presence and life? That is what Christmas is all about, brothers and sisters in Christ. Christmas is more than all the lights and glamours, all the celebrations and feasts. Those things are superficial, as Christmas is truly about Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must always remember that Christmas is the time to celebrate and rejoice because Christ, Our Lord has willingly come down upon us because of His great and enduring love. He Himself had taken the rein of everything that He had planned for our salvation and came to us to bring forth His love and generous mercy, to show us His compassion and desire to be reunited and reconciled with us. But we are often still distracted and easily swayed by the many temptations in this world that we forget about Him and we ignore Him, and sadly, the same can be said about Christmas as well.

We have to remind ourselves just how fortunate we are to have been beloved by God. Yet, by our own stubborn attitude and ignorance, we end up shutting Him out from our lives. And there is nowhere else that this is more evident than in our celebration of Christmas. Too often we celebrate Christmas with a lot of glamour and merrymaking, and yet, we forget the One Whom we ought to be focusing our celebrations on, the One Whose birth and coming into this world. This is not what we should be doing, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Therefore, let us all seek the Lord with a new heart full of faith and love for Him. Let us all prepare ourselves to be worthy to receive Him and to welcome Him into our hearts this Christmas, remembering how two thousand years ago, He has come to us in Bethlehem in Judea, revealing once and for all, God’s eternal love for us, and His plan to save us and lead us into everlasting life with Him. May our Christmas joy be complete and may the rest of our Advent season be meaningful, by our proper preparation from now on. Amen.