preaching the Good News

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Sunday, 8 December 2013 : Second Sunday of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Today, we hear about the story of St. John the Baptist, the one who became the herald and the messenger of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the One who was to save the world. St. John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus was the one who prepared the way for the Lord, not with loud trumpets and the song of angels, but with the call in the desert, the call for the repentance of peoples.

For mankind had been long under the thrall of sin, such that they were long enslaved by the evils of sin. They were not prepared to receive the Lord in that state. They have to be prepared first, that when the Lord came, they were in a state where they would be more receptive to the messages of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

John gained great successes, because throngs of people came to him to be baptised at the Jordan, and committed themselves to the repentance over their sins. Yet, this does not mean that he had an easy job, as you all would notice, how, just as Jesus had encountered opposition and challenges from them, John too faced the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who trusted only in themselves and in their religious knowledge and truth, and not in the revelation brought first by John and made whole by Christ.

They were the people whose sense of self-righteousness brought the people of God to ruin. They thought that they had been very pious and faithful to the Lord by obeying all of His commandments and laws without fail, but they had gotten it all wrong. When they did all those rituals and commandments, they did them not for God, but for themselves.

They liked to be praised on the streets, in the Temple, and by whoever they met along the way. They were the pious ones, the influential ones, the powerful ones, the ones with authority over the people, as leaders and teachers of the people especially in the matters pertaining to the faith, and yet they failed, miserably. They looked and thought highly upon themselves and condemned others who did not do what they had done.

They questioned John because they first saw in him, a rival to their teaching authority and their influence. They also questioned him because they did not look highly and kindly on him, just as later on they would not have high regards for Jesus either. For them, the faith is all about obedience, observation, and most importantly, to them, the obedience of the people to their way and method of teaching, including the way of thinking and the way they had interpreted the faith for the people.

In this, they had misled the people, and brought them to damnation instead of to salvation, and that was why John was so angry at them, for these people had abused their authority as leaders of the people, leading them to the wrong way. John showed the people a preview of the work of salvation in Jesus, that is mercy and love.

If the Pharisees condemned sinners and people they thought as unworthy as sinners, thinking that they did not deserve salvation, unlike them, and if the Sadducees jeered on those who put their faith in the resurrection and new life in God after this world, John and later Jesus Himself, showed that the nature of God is love, compassion, kindness, and mercy.

The Lord is slow to anger and rich in mercy, and if only that we repent and turn our back from our lives of sin, the Lord will welcome us with wide, open hands, to welcome us into His kingdom, the rewards He had repeatedly promised us through Jesus Himself. In the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly said to His disciples and to the people, that all who believe in Him will not die but live, a new and eternal life. Jesus also repeatedly stressed that the Lord shows mercy to those who seek His forgiveness

Jesus did not make all those promises as if they are empty promises. That is because they are all real, brethren! Jesus made these promises to us, and seal them with none other than His own sacrifice on the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection three days after that are the culmination of the long-planned plan of salvation God had crafted for us all, ever since we fell into sin. And John, who cried in the desert asking the people to repent, made the first step in the fulfillment of that plan.

Yes, brethren, Jesus offered Himself freely to us, and His salvation He also offered freely to us, from up there on the cross. He did not die for nothing. He died so that we can live. We ought to heed the call of St. John the Baptist, and begin to reflect on our own selves if we had not done so, on whether we have repented from our sinfulness and change our ways for the better, or whether we have ignored the heeding of the Lord made clear through John.

We often play the part of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, that is to be jealous of others who steal our glory, to fear those who are going to humiliate us or take away the authority away from us. We often become judgmental of others, thinking of the faults in others while failing to see the failures that we ourselves possessed. This is why, we, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, despite our sinfulness and weaknesses, did not go and make an effort to change ourselves.

We are often too busy to spend some time with the Lord, and instead our faith becomes more like a chore and a routine rather than true faith and devotion. We go to church every Sunday, attend the Mass, receive the Holy Communion, and then we go back, go back to our daily routines, and we repeat this again and again, over and over again. If I ask you, what is the meaning behind all of these routines?

The Lord has given His all to us, He even died for us, for our sake, to spare us the fate of death, and He even sent a messenger to prepare the way for Him, and to act as an extra set of mouth to remind the people of the importance for them to repent, and to realise how much their God loves them. But we are often not serious in our love for Him, because we are too busy with our own businesses, with our own daily routines, and with the world!

Yes, just as the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the teachers of the Law. They were too busy in their own world of righteousness and in their fallacy of salvation, that they failed to notice the Messiah when He came into the world, and they rejected Him, just as they had doubted and rejected John at the Jordan. This is the path to damnation, and we have a choice here, brothers and sisters. Will we choose to go the same way as they had done?

This Advent season has entered its second week, and in another three weeks, we will be celebrating the birth and the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ into this world at Christmas. He abandoned the glory of heaven and even His own divinity so that He can be with us, and eventually to sacrifice Himself for us. That is how serious and strong is His love for us. Are we able to do the same for Christ?

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today onwards, heed the call of St. John the Baptist, to repent for the kingdom of God is near. It is coming soon, and we do not know when it will exactly come. We certainly do not want to be caught unprepared when Christ comes again in His glory to judge all creations. It is up to us, whether we want to be judged with the righteous and enter the eternal glory of heaven, or with the damned, to suffer eternally in hell, a total separation from the love of God.

May the Lord watch over us, and help us to make a wise decision, that our lives will be able to change for the better, and no longer sin, but to love more tenderly from now on, that we will truly be worthy of being called, the children of God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 December 2013 : Second Sunday of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 3 : 1-12

In the course of time John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea and began to proclaim his message, “Change your ways, the kingdom of heaven is now at hand!”

It was about him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said : “A voice is shouting in the desert, ‘Prepare a way for the Lord, make His paths straight!'”

John had a leather garment around his waist and wore a cloak of camel’s hair; his food was locusts and wild honey. People came to him from Jerusalem, from all Judea, and from the whole Jordan valley, and they were baptised by him in the Jordan as they confessed their sins.

When he saw several Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he baptised, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who told you that you could escape the punishment that is to come? Let it be seen that you are serious in your conversion, and do not think : We have Abraham for our father. I tell you that God can raise children for Abraham from these stones!”

“The axe is already laid to the roots of the trees; any tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire. I baptise you in water for a change of heart, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than me; indeed I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptise you in Holy Spirit and fire.”

“He has the winnowing fan in His hand and He will clear out His threshing floor. He will gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn in everlasting fire.”

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Sunday, 8 December 2013 : Second Sunday of Advent (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Romans 15 : 4-9

And we know that whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, for both perseverance and comfort given us by the Scripture sustain our hope. May God, the Source of all perseverance and comfort, give to all of you to live in peace in Christ Jesus, that you may be able to praise in one voice God, Father of Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Welcome, then, one another, as Christ welcomed you for the glory of God. Look : Christ put Himself at the service of the Jewish world to fulfill the promises made by God to their ancestors; here you see God’s faithfulness.

The pagans instead give thanks to God for His mercy, as Scripture says : “Because of that, I will sing and praise Your Name among the pagans.”

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Sunday, 8 December 2013 : Second Sunday of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 71 : 2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

May He rule your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

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.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor, He saves the life of the poor.

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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Sunday, 8 December 2013 : Second Sunday of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 11 : 1-10

From the stump of Jesse a shoot will come forth; from his roots a branch will grow and bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him – a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and power, a Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

Not by appearances will He judge, nor by what is said must He decide, but with justice He will judge the poor and with righteousness decide for the meek. Like a rod, His word will strike the oppressor, and the breath of His lips slay the wicked. Justice will be the girdle of His waist, truth the girdle of His loins.

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will rest beside the kid, the calf and the lion cub will feed together and a little child will lead them. Befriending each other, the cow and the bear will see their young ones lie down together. Like cattle, the lion will eat hay.

By the cobra’s den the infant will play. The child will put his hand into the viper’s lair. No one will harm or destroy over My holy mountain, for as water fills the sea, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

On that day the “Root of Jesse” will be raised as a signal for the nations. The people will come in search of Him, thus making His dwelling place glorious.

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Saturday, 7 December 2013 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate mission and the fruits of the mission that Jesus Himself, our Lord, has commissioned the disciples to do. The Lord sent out His call to repentance and salvation to all the nations, and through His disciples, in the missions He gave them, He offered all peoples, literally all mankind, the opportunity to be saved and to be made whole again, through Christ.

He made salvation readily available to all the nations, and through His disciples as His mouthpiece and as His representatives in the world, He spread the seeds of faith, hope, and love in this world. And those seeds that they spread in this world grow tall and strong, despite oppositions and persecutions that faced the Lord and His followers. These seeds would either grow or wither, depending on how each individuals respond to the Lord and His actions.

Some of us readily responds to the seeds God has planted in us, and yet there are others who ignored these gifts or even outrightly rejected them. That is why, these seeds of faith, hope, and love, cannot be left alone to fend for its own. Most likely in that case, the seeds will not grow, or will grow and then wither. That is because we need to make sure that we are healthy in spirit if we are to receive the grace from the Lord.

We need guidance, and we need helpers. That is why Jesus commissioned His disciples, to go ahead of Him, proclaiming His coming and His teachings to the people. Firstly only to the people of Israel, which many of them listened to those words and teachings of Jesus, but they did not truly believe in Him. They abandoned Him when He was betrayed and put to death by the Jewish authorities.

Then, He sent the disciples to all the nations after His death and resurrection, and as a parting statement and mission before He ascended into heaven, He sent forth the disciples to proclaim the Good News to all nations, bringing the words about salvation to all the furthest ends of the earth. And this they did, faithfully, persevering through oppositions, oppressions, and rejections, until they met martyrdom at the end, as part of their mission.

The disciples appointed many successors, who were to continue the good works they had begun, continuing to spread the seeds of faith, hope, and love throughout the world. The world was a great, fertile ground, where those seeds may grow, grow aplenty and strong. But at the same time, great challenges also awaited in the midst of all the goodness and all the opportunities.

Firstly, as Jesus mentioned, that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. These labourers are literally those who had given themselves in the service of the Lord, in spreading His Good News, following in the footsteps of the Apostles. They are today represented by our priests, bishops, our Pope and the Cardinals, all the religious priests and brothers, all missionaries, nuns, sisters, and all who devoted themselves to a life of dedication to God. Each of them devoted themselves as labourers and servants of the Lord in different ways and yet they laboured for the same purpose, that is to make disciples of all the nations as Jesus had commissioned His Apostles.

In the past, we have plenty of priests and many aspirants to the priesthood and religious life. Many people lined up to join the Seminary or religious life, in total and complete devotion to the Lord. Seminaries were full, and churches were full. Priests were in abundance, in great numbers, and even though demands of them continued to increase over time, there was no concern of shortage as we have now.

Today, our world is increasingly becoming more and more hostile to the faith, to the development of our faith, and to the dedicated life in God, in general. The temptations and challenges of this world has become greater, greater, and ever greater. The world offered increasingly more and more tempting options that lured people away from a life of devotion in God. After all, being someone who is affluent in the world offers much greater opportunities and easier life as compared to those who dedicated themselves as the labourers of the Lord, as the servants of the Good News, the missionaries, priests, and so on and so forth.

The call of the Lord for more people to come and serve Him and help Him in bringing the people of God together towards Him, as harvesters seeking the harvest awaiting harvest, increasingly becoming more and more subdued behind the screen of noise of the world. Life as a servant of God becomes more and more of a challenge, as in every corner, the servants of the Lord face numerous obstacles, be it opposition, rejection, temptation, or lack of inner self-discipline and self-control.

And then, in the end, we ourselves have often are to blame ourselves too, whenever we fail to do our part to help, or we may even hinder the process of salvation. That is because, the Lord also calls upon all of us to also play a part in the mission He had commissioned the Apostles for, that is to continue proclaiming the word of God in all the nations. We like to remain idle, and do not profess the Lord in our actions and words. Indeed, we often show things contrary to the teachings of the Lord in our behaviour, that in fact keep people away from truly believing in God.

After all, how can they believe if they see that we ourselves do not believe and do not put complete and pure faith in what we believe in? And today, we celebrate the feast of a great saint, one who did not make compromises about the faith, and one who truly act what he preached, and as a result, gained bountiful harvests for the Lord through the salvation of many souls of the people of God.

Today is the feast of St. Ambrose, the well-known Bishop of Milan in the fourth century after the birth of Christ. St. Ambrose was well-known for his piety, his devotion to the Lord, his exemplary faith, and his unyielding and unbending faith, and his fearlessness to stand up against even the authorities especially when they had subverted and corrupted the faith to suit their own purposes, as I will explain soon.

St. Ambrose lived at a time of turbulence, when the Roman Empire is gradually heading to its ultimate demise, especially in the west, where St. Ambrose had his bishopric, that is the Diocese of Milan, the most important diocese besides Rome in the West, and which is still one of the most important see in the world today. St. Ambrose was an exemplary leader and shepherd of God’s people that few people could hope to equal.

St. Ambrose began his life as a layperson, who was appointed as governor of the region where Milan was in, and he was very well-liked by the people, due to his piety, his character, and the devotion that he had showed the people entrusted under his rule. This made him the clear favourite when the election of the Bishop of Milan took place, and St. Ambrose, while still a layperson, was literally called in to serve the people of God as their shepherd, their bishop.

St. Ambrose did a very good job, and as immediately as he began his tenure as the Bishop of Milan, he set out to root out heresies there, particularly the aberrant teachings of Arianism, which doubted the divinity of Christ. St. Ambrose went on hard on the heresy, persuading and pleading many of those who had left their faith in God, so that they may return to the Lord in the true and pure faith, untainted by heretical teachings such as Arianism.

Not only that, St. Ambrose himself also censured the Empress, because she herself believed in the heretical teachings of Arianism, and tried to destroy the presence of the true faith in Milan and in the Empire, and bend them to conform to the will of the Empress, following her heretical thoughts. St. Ambrose openly condemned the Empress without fear, knowing that heresy has no place in the hearts of the faithful.

St. Ambrose eventually won the day, and the true faith prevailed. And on another occasion, with the another Emperor, Theodosius I, St. Ambrose in fact censured the Emperor himself, by denying him from receiving communion, because he had razed and destroyed the lives of innocent peoples, when they rebelled against him asking for help and assistance. Instead, they were brutally assaulted and executed.

St. Ambrose did not fear at all even to censure the most powerful man on earth, and he stood his ground until the Emperor eventually came to him in sackcloth and in the spirit of repentance, asking the Lord for forgiveness for the sins he had committed in God’s eyes. The Emperor had to publicly acknowledge his sins in public and wore sackcloth and mourning clothes until he had shown his public act of repentance, only after which he was received back into the Church by St. Ambrose. It can be seen here, how exemplary St. Ambrose was, in daring to stand up to authorities in order to defend our faith.

So, after we heard the case of St. Ambrose of Milan and that of his persistence and zeal which made the faith in God truly concrete and real, through the zeal he had in His ministry, he was truly a very good and inspiring servant of God. But is this limited only to the holy men and women? No! All of us in fact also have a role to play. We are the agents of the Lord just as much as the disciples were.

We may not have to go to the extent of what St. Ambrose had done, and it may indeed be difficult to replicate what he had done. What we can do is indeed, starting from simple things, such as through our own deeds. If our faith in God is truly genuine, as that of St. Ambrose’s, and if our hearts are touched by the love that God has given us, I assure you that, we will bring rich harvests to the Lord, and the Lord will reward us with kindness and justice.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we reflect on the life of St. Ambrose of Milan, and coupled with what was said in the Holy Scriptures today, let us resolve to seek to advance the cause for evangelisation, and for the conversion of many nations to the Lord. We should also resolve take part in the process, and not just standing in the sidelines, watching and doing nothing.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, idleness does not reward us with anything. If anything at all, we will be scrutinised for our failure to act according to what the Lord had instructed us to do, through His disciples. Follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, and in the footsteps of St. Ambrose. We may not be able to do much, but it is the intention which counts. We ought to take part and support evangelisation where possible, and as much as within our capabilities.

Be brave, be courageous, and be fearless as St. Ambrose was! Do not worry for the Lord is with us, behind us, supporting us, in all the things that we do in His Name. May God bless us all, and bring more and more souls towards salvation. Amen.

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Saturday, 7 December 2013 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Matthew 9 : 35 – Matthew 10 : 1, 6-8

Jesus went around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and He cured every sickness and disease. When he saw the crowds, he was moved with pity, for they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are only few. Ask the Master of the harvest to send workers to gather His harvest.”

Then He called His twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.

Jesus said to them, “Go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and proclaim this message : the kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. You received this as a gift, so give it as a gift.”

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Saturday, 7 December 2013 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Psalm 146 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! How good it is to sing to our God, how sweet and befitting to praise Him! The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals their broken hearts and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of stars, He calls each of them by name.

The Lord is great and mighty in power; His wisdom is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.

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Saturday, 7 December 2013 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Isaiah 30 : 19-21, 23-26

O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. When you cry, He will listen; When He hears, He will answer. When the Lord has given you the bread of anguish and the water of distress, He, your Teacher will hide no longer. Your own eyes will see Him, and your ear will listen to His words behind you : “This is the way, walk in it.”

He will then give rain for the seed you sow and make the harvest abundant from the crops you grow. On that day your cattle will graze in wide pastures. Your beasts of burden will eat silage tossed to them with pitchfork and shovel.

For on the day of the great slaughter, when fortresses fall, streams of water will flow on every mountain and lofty hill. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven times greater, like the light of seven days, when YHVH binds up the wounds of His people and heals the bruises inflicted by His blows.

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Friday, 6 December 2013 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in God lies our salvation, and in Him we have a bright new hope for the future. For we have lived long in the darkness, just as the two blind men healed by Jesus in the reading today. Remember what the Scripture said, that a people who had lived and walked in darkness, had seen a great light, and that light is none other than Jesus, the Lord and the Light of world.

Jesus is the light, true light and source of all light that will dispel all the darkness that surrounded us. In Him lies the salvation of the world in light, after for eons it had been living in the great darkness. Indeed, the great darkness of our sinfulness. We have been made blind by our lust for evil, by the disobedience that we had done. In our search of knowledge and curiosity, we had been trapped in the designs of the evil one, who misled us towards destruction.

Mankind groans to be free of this state of darkness. Who among the blind does not want to see the beauty of light and the beauty of the world through light? They certainly aspire, desire, and want to see again, to be able to once again perceive light in their eyes. Such was the condition of mankind, and indeed, still is, even until today.

That is why the two blind men sought the mercy of Jesus, whom they recognised, as the One who would be able to bring them out of their dark blindness, and return into the world of the light. And Jesus, having loved them just as He loves all of us, and in His pity and mercy for them, healed them and made them to see once again.

We too, brothers and sisters, are blind. We who have ever sinned are blinded by sin, by the forces of evil that comprises sinfulness. This blindness is not the physical blindness of our eyes, but instead, is the spiritual blindness of our hearts and souls. Sin has wrapped itself around us, distorting truth and distorting our perceptions of the world around us. It has made us corrupted in a sense, and made us to conform to the ways of evil.

That is why, even though we groan to be released from this state of blindness, and even though we are called by the Lord, and through the disciples He had sent to us, He had made the effort to call us out of the darkness, we still often linger or prefer to linger in this state of darkness. Sin corrupts us, and it distorts our perceptions, and it makes often irresistible offers that keep many people to continue in their sinfulness.

It is indeed, in our world today, one increasingly tainted by evil and sin, easier for us to commit things that are evil in the eyes of God, than to do things that are in accordance with the will of God. It is harder for many of us to be good persons that are concerned with the good of others, instead of being selfish and caring only for our own good.

But we can do it, brothers and sisters! We can do it! We can seek and reach out to the Lord, as the two blind men had done. Step outside of our comfort zone, and seek the Lord in places unknown. We have been far too long been blind, and in our darkness, we have been manipulated and corrupted by sin. Reach out to the Lord who is Light, and seek His healing just as He healed the two blind men, who put their trust and faith in Him.

Today, we celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas, also known as St. Nicholas of Myra, which many people said to be the figure that inspired the story of father Christmas, or Santa Claus. Many people see Santa Claus as the figure who goes around the world every Christmas, distributing gifts and presents to children, and from there, eventually grew the secularised celebration of Christmas, a commercialised version, where Christ no longer lays at the centre of it.

St. Nicholas of Myra was in fact a bishop of the early Church, in the area of Myra, now located at the area known as Turkey. At that time, the Church was growing and flourished in the area, and with every day, new converts entered the Church of God, bearing the fruits of salvation. St. Nicholas was one of their bishops, and he was particularly dedicated to the flock entrusted to him.

St. Nicholas often give generous gifts to others, to the people he was bishop of, and to the children. He showed them the warmth of God’s love and care, through his own actions, as one of God’s representatives among mankind. He showed the perfection of God in love, and share the love he has received from the Lord, that everyone may enjoy the love together.

Such is the true joy of Christmas, for God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, part of Himself, who is Love, that He might share that eternal and undying love with all of us. That is the true essence of Christmas, that is about Christ, about His coming into this world, and about His humble birth, and not in all the commercialised celebrations of Christmas.

It is alright to rejoice and be happy in Christmas, as indeed we should be happy and rejoice. But are we doing them for the right purpose? Let us not be blinded by sin and evil, who will scheme to distort our understanding of the nature of this wondrous event, from one where we rejoice in the coming of Christ, into one where we think only about ourselves, about our own good, about our own well-being.

May the Lord who is Light, the true light, will shine forth and pierce the darkness and evil that surround us, and with the guidance and intercession of St. Nicholas of Myra, allow us to seek the light and be able to truly see again the truth of God and the truth about ourselves and our salvation in God. May He bless us as we prepare to celebrate His coming this Christmas. Amen!