Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday marks the beginning of the season
of Advent, the time of preparation before the coming of Christmas, when we will
celebrate together the birth or Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Today as the
First Sunday of Advent, we also begin a new liturgical year, as a new cycle of
the liturgical celebrations begin anew.
This
Advent season is a time for us to prepare ourselves for Jesus’ coming. It is easy to get distracted with all the
Christmas excitement, but we need to remember that Jesus is the reason for the
season. In order for us to prepare
ourselves for this Holy Mass, let us pause for a moment, remembering those sins
we have committed against God and neighbor, and be truly sorry for them.
Good
morning brothers and sisters in Christ!
Welcome to a new liturgical year and also the season of Advent. Today we heard the passages from the
Scriptures speaking to us from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, reminding us as
God’s people that we have fallen from the grace of God when we sinned against
Him, disobeying His laws and commandments. Yet, God is ever forgiving and
merciful, and He is willing to forgive us our sins, as long as we open
ourselves to His mercy and allow His grace and love to transform us from a being
filled with sin into a being of light.
As
we embark through this season of Advent, preparing ourselves for the coming of
Christmas, it is important that we take note, that this season is not about
preparing our homes with decorations, or the time for us to do our
pre-Christmas shopping and preparation for our lavish Christmas parties and
celebrations. Instead, this time of Advent is designed for us that we may stop
from whatever we have been doing throughout this year, and reflect on them, so
as to prepare ourselves spiritually and mentally to celebrate Christmas
properly.
Many
of us do not understand what Christmas is truly about, and we ended up being
drawn into the secular way of celebrating Christmas. In fact, if you look
around Lagos, many people are already raising their prices everywhere on food
items, planning perhaps their trip to the East to spend Christmas with family
and friends, and looking for ways to get money.
Yet,
if we look deeper, except for some noteworthy exceptions we surely have encountered,
there is something very important missing from all these Christmas planning.
And what is that, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is Christ! Christ has been
missing from Christmas, and the celebration which is primarily and indeed
solely about Christ Our Lord, has lost its true meaning and purpose, hidden
beneath layers of excess fun and what one is expecting to receive on Christmas.
Many
of us worry about what we are to wear during the celebrations, or what to cook
or provide in our feasts, but for what purpose? Indeed, it will be good to wear
something new and good looking for the festive seasons, but are we doing these
for the right purpose? Are we celebrating the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
or are we being vain, trying to look good and beautiful in front of our guests
and relatives?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are living in a world awash with many material excesses as well as materialistic attitudes. We are surrounded by all these things that distract us from the true focus of Christmas. Imagine if in a birthday party, everyone is busy enjoying themselves, talking among themselves and be occupied by various activities, and yet, the person who is having the birthday is forgotten. Is that right? Surely it is not.
The
Gospel passage today serves as a reminder for all of us the importance of this
season of Advent, as a time of reflection and recollection, for us to think
deep in our hearts what it truly means for us to celebrate Christmas, and
indeed, what it means to be Christians. For we believe in the Lord Jesus, Our
God, Who has descended to us assuming the flesh of Man, and died for us on the
cross.
This
is the fundamental tenet of our faith which we have to follow and understand if
we are truly willing to understand the true spirit and intention of our
Christmas celebrations. For Christmas is not just like any other earthly
celebrations. The very reason we rejoice is because Christmas itself is
intimately and inseparably tied with another great event in our faith – that is
of the Passion of Our Lord that we celebrate during Good Friday, and His
resurrection in Easter.
Without
the crucifixion, death and resurrection in Easter, Christmas has no meaning, as
then it will be just the birth anniversary of yet another human being, no different
from any one of us. Instead, it is because of Easter that Christmas has its
meaning, because we believe that God Himself has become Man and entered into
the world at the moment of His birth, celebrated as Christmas. And the very
purpose of His coming into this world, which makes Easter also inseparable from
Christmas, is so that He may lay down His life on the cross, as a perfect
sacrificial victim, for the sake of our redemption.
Brothers
and sisters in Christ, we need to spend time to reflect on this, and see if we
have done what we are expected to do, in preparation for the worthy celebration
of Christmas. Otherwise, this time of Advent and eventually this upcoming
Christmas season will just pass and go without meaning or purpose for us, year
after year, again and again. Instead, all of us as Christians should become
role models in our faith, and do our best to worthily welcome Christmas,
celebrating the very important moment of the birth of Our Lord, God Who have
willingly made Himself a Man, for our sake.
Let
us all do our best to prepare ourselves this season of Advent, by going for the
Sacrament of Reconciliation, doing confession for our sins and conducting
penance through our good works and charity, giving up our bad habits, and
prepare ourselves, heart, mind, soul and body to be ready to celebrate
Christmas in full faith, no longer focused on ourselves, but instead, returning
to our true focus in Our Lord Jesus Christ, the birthday Boy, Whose birth we
rejoice at.
May
the Lord bless us always, and may He empower each and every one of us, so that
we may live faithfully and walk in His ways, all the days of our life,
persevering through the challenges of life and all the temptations of this
world. May He guide us in this season of Advent, that day after day, we may
come ever closer to God and His grace. We ask this through Jesus Christ our
Lord, Amen.
*Courtesy: Rev. Fr. Patrick
Morrison, Order of Preachers (OP), St. Jude’s Catholic
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