New Year Today!

First Sunday of Advent C

November 28, 2009

(First Weekend at Queen of Peace, Laverton)

Waiting for the Moment

Introduction

Today is like a “new year’s day” not in our civic calendar, but in the Liturgical Calendar of the Church. By celebrating the first week of Advent Season we begin afresh the new Liturgical Year of the Church. Advent comes from the Latin ad venio, “to come” — is the liturgical season anticipating the Adventus Domini, the "coming of the Lord.”

Interestingly as the Church begins a new Liturgical Year, I also begin a new chapter of my priestly journey with you here at Queen of Peace Parish. I was assistant priest at St Andrews in Werribee for 3 years. Although Werribee is just a few kilometres from Altona Meadows but coming here is a new and exciting journey for me – I hope Fr Binh has the same feeling.

Everything is new to me – not only I have a new set of keys to remember but also a few hundreds of new names or at least faces to remember.

Just to give you a brief profile about myself, I’m sure you get to know me later on (hopefully just the good side of me), I was ordained priest in 2006 at St Patrick’s Cathedral by Archbishop Denis Hart. I started my seminary training in the Philippines at the age of 16. I came to Australia in year 2000 and continued my studies at Corpus Christi College.

I have three sisters; two of them live in Sunbury, where I spent most of the time in day off playing with my 3 nieces and 3 nephews. My younger sister lives in the Philippines with my mother and father.

Advent Season

Well, let’s go back to Advent!

Advent Season is a season of waiting for the coming of Christ on Christmas day. The Gospel reading today is about the impending of second coming of Jesus, the Son of Man, at end of the world. St Luke Gospel invites the people then to be ready, be vigilant at all times.

The first Sunday of Advent has the theme of waiting because God is coming! We have to be prepared and ready. Like a pregnant mother we anticipate and wait with full of excitement the birth of our Saviour – in our hearts and in the hearts of everyone – this is indeed the true and sole meaning of Christmas.

We have only 27 days before Christmas!

Everyone is getting ready for Christmas — people at homes and shopping centres are now busy putting up Christmas decorations. They are all beautiful and make the atmosphere colourful and festive but one of the serious temptations we are facing every year is the commercialization of Jesus’ birth.

Sometimes we are so busy with the material preparations that we lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas: the Word made flesh coming to dwell among us. We need to remind ourselves again and again to preserve the spiritual focus of Christmas amidst the hustle and bustle of our consumer-driven society.

Inside Church

Inside the Church we see the beautiful purple colour of Advent, candles, vestments, that reminds us that our four Sundays of preparation and expectation before Christmas must first of all be a spiritual one.

Purple or violet used during Advent and Lent is a penitential colour – it invites us to start afresh our journey with God by being sorry for our sins, ask for His forgiveness and make a resolution to really work hard to be a better person.

The gradual lighting of the four candles, one on each Sunday of the Advent season, help us to symbolize not only our expectation of Our Savior's first coming into the world, but also in his Second Coming as Judge at the end of the world.

Readings

Our readings this Sunday touch our need for strength, determination and perseverance to overcome our weaknesses and sinfulness so that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, may be born in our hearts.

The first reading reminds us of the promise God has made to his people: Righteousness and justice will come to the earth. The day of the Lord will arrive, though long delayed.

In the second reading Paul expresses this need of strength. He writes, May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all,just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts…

And in the Gospel, Jesus tells us to pray that we may have strength, “Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.”

Conclusion

Let us be cautious about the shortness of time. Too soon enough, it’s Christmas day already.

Again in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the season, let us strive to keep Advent a season of waiting and longing, of conversion and hope, meditating often on the incredible love and humility of our God in taking on flesh of the Virgin Mary.

In our shopping, let us remember to purchase and prepare something for the poor. When we clean our homes, let us distribute some of our possessions to those who lack many necessities.

While we are decking the halls of our homes, let us not forget to also prepare most of all a peaceful place in our hearts wherein our Savior, the Emmanuel – who is to come to dwell amongst us.