First Week of Advent

"In today’s society, materialism is idolized, immorality is glamorized, truth is minimized, sin is normalized, divorce is rationalized, and abortion is legalized. In TV and movies, crime is legitimized, drug use is minimized, comedy is vulgarized, sex is trivialized, the Bible is fictionalized, churches are satirized, God is marginalized, and Christians are demonized. The elderly are dehumanized, the sick are euthanized, the poor are victimized, the mentally ill are ostracized, immigrants are stigmatized, and children are tranquilized. In families around the world, our manners are uncivilized, speech is vulgarized, faith is secularized, and everything is commercialized. “Unfortunately, Christians, you and I are often disorganized and demoralized, our faith is compartmentalized, and our witness is compromised."

- Rick Warren

Those words left me mesmerized. If we truly open our eyes and see, we will realize that we live in a time that faces such evil as mentioned above, almost apocalyptic and there lies every reason for us to give in to despair - everything seems hopeless..

BUT THE START OF ADVENT REMINDS US TO HAVE HOPE!

The Catholic faith in her majestic beauty teaches us to have hope at the very start of every liturgical year. How can hope be found in such hard times? Evil used to creep in the back door but now it seems to be welcomed openly. How do we generate such hope amidst the chaos?

The answer is love or more precisely merciful and salvific love! To better understand this and also avoid any potential prejudice towards the answer just mentioned, let us take a step back. Where sin runs deep, graces abounds even deeper. The power of love of God is far superior than the force of evil. We find hope in "a love more powerful than evil" - Saint John Paul the Great. Our hope lies in the coming and birth of Savior Jesus Christ. How are we going to prepare ourselves to accept this greatest gift that we could ever receive - God's only begotten son?

Firstly, embrace this season of Advent. At the start of Advent, it is good to know or rather, recall the reason behind having four weeks of Advent to prepare ourselves for the coming and birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. It is because, the world had to wait 4,000 years for a Savior. The prophets, the faithful of God throughout the ages longed with all their being for the coming of the Messiah. In the same way, we enter into this expectancy,we are to prepare ourselves, to experience that same longing, that hope and desire for the Messiah!

"We will see in the readings throughout Advent the part of Salvation history that was pretty much cold and dark, right before the light of our redemption dawned." - Scott Hahn

Through the readings of this season, we will see reaffirmation of the prophecies that came to Israel during the period of waiting, the longing with expectancy and then of course, with Christmas comes the long awaited fulfillment that exceeds the highest hopes and wildest dreams of the ancient Israelite believers. The same goes to us! Amidst the chaos we see around us, we wait in hope and the good news is the fulfillment of that hope is going to exceed our wildest imaginations! This process is important for us to accept His Merciful Love, to find fulfillment in hope for "A love more powerful than evil"

Secondly, we need the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As Fr.Michael Gaitley, in his well renowned book, 33 days to Morning Glory puts it, "Mary is the one who brings us to the source of merciful love, Mary is the one who brings us to a love that is more powerful than evil." By the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary and became man. The incarnation could only materialize in and through Mother Mary. Mother Mary brings Jesus into this world in accord with the perfect Will of the Father. As much as Mary brings us to Jesus, she first and foremost brings Jesus to us, into this world. She bore him in her womb. Let that sink in. We need to turn to her, humbly ask her for guidance in letting Jesus be born anew in our lives this coming Christmas. We need her guidance to give our yes to God, to place our hope in His merciful love that is far superior to all the evils that we see around us.

There is hope indeed. Therefore, let us Christians, truly place our hope in the coming of our merciful and loving Savior and "revitalize our worship, minimize our differences, mobilize our members, evangelize the lost, and re-energize our families."(Rick Warren) in and through this season of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. There is truly a great reason for the season, Amen?