ADVENT MESSAGE

Yesterday, our liturgical year (Year C) ended and today we begin a new one. May the grace of God see us through the new liturgical year. Our liturgical year begins with Advent, a period of preparation for the joy of Christmas.  At Advent, we prepare so that the coming King may meet us well. Advent is about the coming of Christ into the world and rightly so, the Word ADVENT means “the coming of…” 

Since Christ is our King, we have to prepare well for his coming.  Our readings during Advent invite us to level the potholes, fill the valleys and make straight the path for the Lord. The Lord want to come into our hearts and home, and we need to remove all obstacles. The greatest obstacle to remove is SIN. As. St. Paul reminds us, we cannot be in sin and hope that grace will abound. No. We must therefore, ger rid of sin and make our hearts ready to welcome the Lord, our God.

Advent is also a period of expectation. Christians are people of hope, at Advent, we wait, we anticipate the coming of Christ, in other words, we yearn for our Lord to visit us. Our waiting is not idleness, but a prayerful waiting. While we wait, we prepare by a life of prayer, a live of cleansing and by living a life focused on God. Because we yearn for God, we wait for His coming, as no other person can satisfy our desires.

While the Lord Jesus came to the world more than 2000 years ago, we have to prepare for Him anew because sometimes it does not seem as if many people have welcomed Him into their hearts. The beauty that Advent points to paradoxically is not the beauty of this world, but the beauty of the immortal God and his kingdom. Advents points to God, directs our gaze from the things of this world to the beauty of God and invites us to prepare to participate in something beautiful and glorious – the coming of our God.

As a nation, we have witnessed many dark days, many days of pains and anguish. We need the message of Advent, the message that the Saviour, our Saviour is coming for us. During a year that has witnessed many unnecessary death, we need the call of advent to level the valleys of sin and hatred, the mountains of violence and revenge and allow God into our lives.

On this first Sunday of Advent, the Lord calls us to a change of life. We must leave behind old things and start something new. For instance, we must embrace peace by turning our swords into farm implements, that is, instead of weapons, they must become means to accomplish peace in the world. The weapon we need is the weapon of love. Let us love in truth and in deed. And now is the time to repent, to change. We cannot delay it or postpone it till another day, lest we be caught unprepared like the flood caught many by surprise in the days of Noah.  Be prepared always and good things will not pass you by.

Another weapon we need at Advent is the weapon of the truth. We must speak the truth to ourselves and to one another. We must confront the sins in our lives and have the courage to call them for what they are, only then will we have the grace to defeat them and start afresh. While Noah was preparing, others were still celebrating and wasting their energies on things that do not satisfy. If we can but see the beauty of God, the things of this world will not distract us.

Finally, Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, Advent is not the goal, it is the path that leads to Christmas. It is Christmas that brings us the peace, love and joy of Christ, but without a sincere Advent, Christmas will be empty.  I urge you to embark on this Advent journey with clarity of intention and sincerity of purpose and we shall find Christ in the Manger of life at Christmas.