First Sunday of Advent

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Monday, 28 November 2022 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this season of Advent, the time of preparation for Christmas, through the words of the Sacred Scriptures we heard today, all of us are being reminded that there will be the time when the Lord comes again in His glory, to gather us all, His beloved people and all of His faithful ones, that all of us may find rest and true happiness in Him. And we are reminded too that we should have faith in God and in His providence, and that in Him we shall have sure hope of eternal life and salvation, and we should believe in Him wholeheartedly and sincerely, devoting ourselves, our time, effort and attention to serve Him in each and every moments of our lives. Especially also during this Advent season, we are all called to rediscover our connection and strengthen our relationship with God, Whose coming celebrate this upcoming Christmas.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah regarding the promises that God brought to His people regarding the coming of the time of glory, joy and liberation for all of them, as He will deliver them from the hands of their enemies. The Lord never forgets all of them and has always put them in His thoughts. The Lord proclaimed of the future coming of His eternal and righteous dominion over all, when He will rule over all the people and the nations of the world, and where the old wickedness, evils and filth of this world will all be swept away and replaced with the righteousness and justice of God. They will all live in the presence of God, enjoying the fullness of His love and grace, and they will not suffer or have any more need any longer, because they will find perfection with and through God.

And that is what we are looking forward to as we journey through this season of Advent, in preparing ourselves for the joyous and glorious celebration of Christmas that is coming soon. We all know that Advent is a time for preparation for us so that we can celebrate Christmas worthily but how many of us truly know what it is that we are really celebrating in Christmas and its significance to us? Christmas marks the birthday of Our Lord and Saviour, the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has dwelled in His mother’s womb for nine months, and then appearing to us in the flesh, as He was born into this world, that the Saviour of this world finally made His appearance and became tangible and approachable by all of us. In Christ is the culmination and the completion of all that God had proclaimed and reassured His people with, all the promises of salvation and grace.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard a seemingly different narrative, that of an army captain or centurion whose beloved servant was very sick to the point of death. This army centurion, which by the conventions of the time was most certainly not a Jew, and might likely be a Roman, a pagan and outsider by the standards of the people living in the land of Judea and Galilee back then, came to the Lord with great faith, one that the Lord Himself praised before all. For this army centurion, although one of high rank and therefore would have been expected to demand assistance from the Lord, instead humbled himself before everyone who might have witnessed the encounter between him and the Lord, and he had so much faith in the Lord that he went all the way to Him by himself, asking Him personally for the favour for his servant’s sake.

Peculiarly, we may also notice that the army captain also said to the Lord that He should not come to his house when the Lord was making a move towards there, because he was unworthy to have Him enter under his roof. This is the same phrase that we mention every time the priest in the Holy Mass raised the Most Holy Eucharist, the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord before us after the Agnus Dei or Lamb of God, saying, ‘This is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb’, and we respond with the exact same words that the army centurion had spoken. This is the profession of our faith and also our humility, realising just how unworthy we truly are for the Lord to come into our midst, and yet that is what He had done for our sake.

Back then, what the army centurion had done was also very shrewd and right, as it was considered taboo and wrong for a Jew to enter the house of a pagan. According to the strict observance of the Law by the Pharisees and the elders, that would have made the Lord Jesus and His disciples unclean by merely stepping into the army centurion’s house. Hence, the army centurion might have wanted to prevent that unfortunate circumstance, which would have generated more reasons for the enemies of the Lord to attack and persecute Him all the more. But nonetheless, what matters is that the army centurion had such great faith in the Lord that essentially he did not have to witness the Lord actually performing His miracles before his own eyes in order for him to believe in Him.

Contrast this to the attitudes of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and all the elders who continued to doubt and question the Lord, refusing to believe in Him and His truth, and even accusing Him of blasphemy and colluding with demons when they themselves had seen many miracles and wonders performed before their own eyes, and heard all the wisdom and good things that the Lord had spoken before them, and which had fulfilled the prophecies and predictions made by the prophets, a fact that they were all certainly familiar with. What is the reason then for the contradiction and contrast, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because for all of those people, they had no faith in them, and in their pride, ego and self-righteousness, they had closed the gates of their hearts and minds against God.

Hence, today as we continue our journey through this blessed season of Advent, let us all reflect on our attitudes in life, in our way of life and in how each one of us have responded to God’s call in our lives. In our preparation for Christmas in particular, have we realised and understood the true meaning and importance of Christmas to us? Or have we allowed the extreme commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas to affect and influence us? It is not wrong for us to celebrate Christmas the way that we are familiar with, but we must not allow that to distract us from appreciating and celebrating the true meaning and importance of Christmas. We should do our best to observe Christmas with the true spirit and understanding of what we are celebrating, and we should maintain our focus on the light of truth and salvation that Christ has brought into our midst.

May the Lord, our God and Saviour, born into this world and incarnate in the flesh, revealed to us and through Whom we have been made sharers in God’s most generous love and inheritance, continue to guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He strengthen each one of us in our resolve so that we may always be ready to follow Him and walk in His path at all times. May God bless us and our every good endeavours and efforts, all for the greater glory of His Name, and may He help us to prepare ourselves well so that we may indeed welcome the season of Christmas worthily with faith and true joy, in Christ, the One in Whom we truly should be celebrating and be rejoicing about. Amen.

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Monday, 28 November 2022 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 8 : 5-11

At that time, when Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached Him, to ask His help, “Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralysed and suffers terribly.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The captain answered, “I am not worthy to have You under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one, ‘Go!’ he goes; and if I say to another, ‘Come!’ he comes; and if I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, He was astonished; and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.”

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Monday, 28 November 2022 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 121 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5, 6-7, 8-9

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of YHVH!” And now we have set foot within your gates, o Jerusalem!

Jerusalem, just like a city, where everything falls into place! There the tribes go up.

The tribes of YHVH, the assembly of Israel, to give thanks to YHVH’s Name. There stand the courts of justice, the offices of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : “May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your walls and security within your citadels!”

For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be with you!” For the sake of the house of our YHVH, I will pray for your good.

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Monday, 28 November 2022 : 1st Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 4 : 2-6

On that day the Shoot of YHVH will be beautiful and glorious; and the Fruit of the earth will be honour and splendour for the survivors of Israel. Those who are left in Zion and remain in Jerusalem will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem, when YHVH washes away the filth of the women of Zion and purges Jerusalem of the bloodstains in its midst with the blast of searing judgment, the blast of fire.

Then will YHVH create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of fire by night. For the Glory of the Lord will be a canopy and a pavilion for all, a shade from the scorching heat by day, a refuge from the storm and rain.

Alternative reading

Isaiah 2 : 1-5

The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days, the mountain of YHVH’s house shall be set over the highest mountains and shall tower over the hills. All the nations shall stream to it, saying, “Come, let us go to the mountain of YHVH, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and we may walk in His paths. For the teaching comes from Zion, and from Jerusalem the word of YHVH.”

“He will rule over the nations and settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not raise sword against nation; they will train for war no more. O nation of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of YHVH!”

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Sunday, 27 November 2022 : First Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday the Church marks the beginning of both the new liturgical year cycle as well as the season of Advent. This season of Advent marks the time of preparation and spiritual discernment for all of us as we are getting ourselves ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour at Christmas. Thus this season of Advent is meant to be a time of recollection and realignment in our lives that we may truly be ready and worthy to celebrate Christmas, not the worldly ways of how Christmas is celebrated but rather the true Christmas, the celebration of the birth or Nativity of Our Lord Jesus, as we welcome Him into our midst, to dwell among us and be with us, God made manifest and tangible. Through Him we have seen the love that God has for each and every one of us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spoke through Isaiah, His prophet to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, speaking of what will happen at the end of time, when God will raise Jerusalem and His people to the highest of the highest, where He shall rule over them forever, and the people from every nations and every ends of the Earth will come flocking to Him, referring to how God will rule not just over Israel or Judah, but also over the whole world, over all of mankind. Through His prophecy made via Isaiah, we all heard how the Lord reassured His people, and hence us all, that He will be with us, and will raise us up on the last day, when He will judge all the living and the dead, from all time, and those who are worthy will be brought into His everlasting kingdom while those who are found unworthy will be cast out into eternal damnation.

Contextually, this message was presented by the Lord to His people at a rather low time in the psyche and experience of the people of God then, the descendants of Israel and Abraham. That was because at that time, the northern kingdom of Israel had just recently fallen to the conquering forces of the Assyrians, who had destroyed the kingdom and its capital city of Samaria, and brought many of the people of the northern kingdom into exile, scattering them off in distant lands away from their ancestral homeland. Not only that, but the Assyrian king Sennacherib even almost destroyed Jerusalem as well if not for God’s mighty intervention. All of that happened because of their constant disobedience and rebellion against God, and they had to face the consequences for their lack of faith and their betrayal against God. But the Lord still reached out to His people and wanted them all to be reunited with Him, and hence, He gave them this reassurance through His prophets like Isaiah and many others.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the words of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and all the people assembled that the Son of Man will come again at the end of time, at the moment when no one will expect and when many will be caught being lax and unaware of the fact that they have to account for their lives and existence before God, and answer for their failures to follow Him and obey His Law and commandments. St. Paul speaks of the same thing in his Epistle and letter to the Church and the faithful in Rome in our second reading today, as he reminded the faithful there to remember their obligations and missions as Christians, and not to be lax or complacent in how they live their lives. They were reminded to uphold their faith in God most faithfully, and to do their best to live righteously as Christian believers, behaving and doing things in the manner that they had been shown and taught to do by the Lord and through His Church.

After hearing from the Scripture passages today, we are all reminded that on this First Sunday of Advent, we focus one of the aspects of Advent in the anticipation of the coming of Our Lord and Saviour, that is Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. This Sunday therefore we are focusing on the Theme of Hope, the Hope that we have in Christ, our Lord, Whose birth we commemorate this coming Christmas season. Throughout the Scripture readings we heard this Sunday, we can clearly see this Hope being presented, as the Hope for the people of God Who were expecting the coming of God’s Saviour and liberation, just as He has proclaimed and promised to them, throughout time, again and again, from prophets to prophets, and messengers to messengers. It is this Hope that the people were holding onto firmly even as they suffered throughout all those years, humiliated and enduring hardships.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore at the very beginning of this season of Advent reflect carefully on our way of observing it and how we are preparing ourselves for the coming of the joyful season of Christmas. Let us ask by asking ourselves, what is it that we await for in Christmas? And what is it that we rejoice for in Christmas? We may not realise it but the ways that many of us and this world are using in preparing to celebrate and celebrating Christmas are not reflecting and showing what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. In whatever we see all around us these few weeks and in the next upcoming few weeks, what we see is all about excessive secularisation of Christmas, and all about glamour and merrymaking, but one that is lacking the true reason why we ought to rejoice in the first place.

We rejoice because of the Hope we have received and been reassured of by the Lord Himself, the Hope of salvation, eternal life and liberation from the chains and bondage of sin and death. Yet, in many of our celebrations, we place excessive emphasis on the many secular practices, customs and observances of Christmas, where the birthday Boy Himself was often sidelined, put aside and ignored, and instead we spent a lot of time and are spending a lot more time on the festivities, glamorous displays, of Santa Claus, Father Christmas, all the reindeers, glitters and snow, and all those things that should be merely accessory and accompanying the joy we have in the Hope in Christ we gained through Christmas. Yet, those things have often occupied the centre stage, and the Lord is often forgotten, ignored and laid aside on the festivities that bear His very own Name, Christmas.

Therefore, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christmas appropriately and worthily, let us all reflect on what Christmas is truly all about, and think of how we can do better in making our Christmas celebration a truly genuine and worthy one, which reflects the true meaning, importance and significance of this event. Let us all focus on that great Hope we have seen in Christ, the Light of God and His salvation that has appeared in the midst of our darkened world filled with sin and evil. That way we will realise that whatever we plan for Christmas, if we have been following the customs and habits of the world, are really excessive and unnecessary. We have to remember that we celebrate Christmas because we are grateful, full of joy and happiness because of what our Lord and Saviour had done for us, in restoring Hope to each and every one of us.

Let us also keep in mind that there are those brothers and sisters of ours who cannot celebrate Christmas the way we often celebrate it. There are Christians all around the world who are still being persecuted, and who endure daily sufferings just because of their faith in God. There are places where Christians have to be very careful or lest they may be persecuted, or even lose their lives if they are found out to be believers of Christ. This was just like how it was during the early days of the Church, and how it was also during the many times throughout history when the Church and faithful Christians endured a lot of trials, challenges and many martyrdoms happened. But they all remained firm in their faith in God because of the Hope which they have seen in Christ, their Lord and Saviour.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all restore the true dignity and meaning of Christmas by restoring our focus on the true reason for Christmas, that is Christ Himself. Let us all focus our attention on Him and embody the true spirit and joy of Christmas in ourselves, in how we act and in how we prepare ourselves during this season of Advent. Let us all bear the Hope of Christ, His light and truth in our every words, actions and deeds, and be the beacons of His light and hope to the nations, especially to those who have been bereft and denied of hope and courage, of comfort and strength. But we can be their encouragement and strength, brothers and sisters, and if we can, through our actions and support, in whatever way we can do to bring the Light and Hope of Christ to our suffering brethren, then we truly have understood the true meaning and significance of Christmas, and are ready to celebrate it worthily.

May all of us progress through this season of Advent with the right spirit and motivation, and do our best to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas in all of our preparations and expectations. Let us remind each other of the Light and Hope that we have received from Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, and bear that Light and Hope in our own lives, that we may inspire many others to find their way to the Lord and to His salvation. May God bless us always and may He grant us the strength and the courage to do our best in glorifying Him ever always by our lives. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 November 2022 : First Sunday of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 24 : 37-44

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “At the coming of the Son of Man, it will be just as it was in the time of Noah. In those days before the Flood, people were eating and drinking, and marrying, until that day when Noah went into the Ark. Yet they did not know what would happen, until the flood came and swept them away.”

“So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man : of two men in the field, one will be taken and the other left; of two taken and the other left; of two women grinding wheat together at the mill, one will be taken and the other left. Stay awake then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

“Obviously, if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief was coming, he would certainly stay up and not allow his house to be broken into. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect.”

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Sunday, 27 November 2022 : First Sunday of Advent (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Romans 13 : 11-14a

You know what hour it is. This is the time to awake, for our salvation is now nearer than when we first believed; the night is almost over and day is at hand. Let us discard, therefore, everything that belongs to darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

As we live in the full light of day, let us behave with decency; no banquets with drunkenness, no promiscuity or licentiousness, no fighting or jealousy. Put on, rather, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Sunday, 27 November 2022 : First Sunday of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 121 : 1-2, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” And now we have set foot within your gates, o Jerusalem!

There the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, the assembly of Israel, to give thanks to the Lord’s Name. There stand the courts of justice, the offices of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : “May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your walls and security within your citadels!”

For the sake of my relatives and friends, I will say, “Peace be with you!” For the sake of the house of our Lord, I will pray for your good.

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Sunday, 27 November 2022 : First Sunday of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 2 : 1-5

The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days, the mountain of YHVH’s house shall be set over the highest mountains and shall tower over the hills. All the nations shall stream to it, saying, “Come, let us go to the mountain of YHVH, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and we may walk in His paths. For the teaching comes from Zion, and from Jerusalem the word of YHVH.”

“He will rule over the nations and settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not raise sword against nation; they will train for war no more. O nation of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of YHVH!”

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Saturday, 5 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all constantly being reminded again and again of the Lord’s love and kindness, His care and compassion towards us. As we journey through this season of Advent, we are all being called to redirect our focus and attention all towards the Lord and to reorientate our lives such that we live it with greater awareness of God’s presence in our lives and of what we need to do as Christians in our daily living.

In our first reading today, a continuation of the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah as we have listened throughout most of this week, again we heard of the Lord’s many promises that He would bring His people out of their misery and suffering, their humiliation and terrible state. He would liberate them and bless them wonderfully once again, where they shall enjoy the bountiful fruits of God’s love in its fullness forevermore.

These promises and prophecies were significant as by the time of the prophet Isaiah and the prophecies he spoke of, the people of God, both in the northern kingdom of Israel and in the southern kingdom of Judah had endured centuries of troubles, conflict, humiliation and challenges. Not long before the prophet Isaiah’s time, the northern kingdom of Israel was thoroughly destroyed after having been attacked and degraded many times in the previous decades. The Assyrians who conquered the land destroyed the cities and brought most of the people off into exile in far-off lands.

Meanwhile, in the southern kingdom of Judah itself which had been gradually weakened over the previous centuries, the nation itself had been weakening further and been humiliated. At that same time, probably around the time when Isaiah spoke of his prophecy, the Assyrians had just laid waste to the lands of Judah and came to besiege Jerusalem, uttering insults on God and the king of Judah. Judah and Jerusalem came close to be conquered and destroyed just as the northern kingdom had suffered just decades before.

But that was where God revealed His great might and His enduring love for His people. Despite their sins and disobedience, their refusal to obey the Lord’s will and commandments, God still loved His people nonetheless. That was why He intervened and crushed the armies of the Assyrians and made them and their king to leave and return back to their homes in shame. And thus, the prophecies of Isaiah were indeed a further reinforcement and reminder to the people of God that the Lord was with them and was always by their side.

We heard also in our Gospel passage today of the Lord Jesus and His works among the people, how He took pity on His people, loving them and caring for their sick, healing many among them miraculously, and many of those who once had no hope and despaired, were restored through the hands of God. And He also sent out His disciples and followers to go before Him and to proclaim the Good News of God’s salvation, with the same power of healing and exorcism of demons and evil spirits among others.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard all of these from the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded how this Advent we are expecting the Lord’s coming with joy, remembering firstly what He had done when He first came in the flesh, as we heard in our Gospel passage today. But even more so, we also wait in expectation of His second coming, when He shall fulfil all of His promises perfectly and completely, fulfilling completely the prophecies of Isaiah and the other prophets, the ushering of the time of eternal grace and joy for all the faithful ones of God.

In the meantime, we are all called to make ourselves holy and just, righteous and worthy of God through our actions, as well as through our strong relationship with God. That is why this season of Advent is a good time to remind us of our calling and obligations as Christians, that is to dedicate ourselves and our lives to God to the best of our abilities. Are we able and willing to do that, brothers and sisters in Christ?

Let us all look forward with anticipation and hope towards the Lord and all the true joy and the eternal life which He has promised us all His faithful ones. Let us all do our very best to remain faithful to Him, and prepare ourselves wholly to be able to celebrate the joy of Christmas with Christ, Our Lord, at the centre and as the sole focus of our joy and celebrations. May the Lord continue to guide us and help us, and may He strengthen us in our faith. Amen.