Since September, Christmas carols have started playing on the radio stations, the speakers inside supermarkets and shopping malls, fast-food outlets, and almost any other place. Everyone started getting into the Christmas spirit with people beginning to buy the gifts they would be giving out, thinking of the parties, planning the holiday vacations or staycations, and of course the bonuses.
It is now just barely twenty days before Christmas and everyone, everything, and everywhere will be chaotic as the day approaches. Expect crowd-packed malls, horrendous traffic jams, and sadly an upward trend in petty crimes.
Thankfully, we do have a chance to somehow find peace in all this chaos: the four weeks of Advent. Advent means beginning, which is why the Catholic Church celebrates the start of its new liturgical year on the First Sunday of Advent.
During Advent , we not only prepare for remembering the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also prepare ourselves for his second coming. It is a time for us to look back on the previous year and see what we need to improve within ourselves and how we deal with others.
For the First Sunday of Advent, the Luke’s gospel focuses on hope. Jesus tells us what will happen upon his return and tells us to remain steadfast on what he has taught us. The first reading from Jeremiah and second reading from 1st Thessalonians both support this and tell us that justice will prevail and that we must continue doing what is right in God’s sight.
The theme is preparation and repentance for the Second Sunday of Advent. The gospel according to Luke and first reading from the Prophet Baruch are closely related in that they both exhort us to be ready and to prepare for the Lord’s coming so that His glory will be revealed to us. The Letter to the Philippians for the second reading tells us to persevere in the good that we are doing as these point to God’s glory.
The readings for the Third Sunday of Advent tell us to rejoice and be excited as the Lord is near. The Prophet Zephaniah in first reading begins with “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel!”, while Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the second reading starts as “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!”. In the gospel reading from Luke, we are told that people were filled with expectation upon hearing the words of John the Baptist. In a similar way, me must also be filled with joyful expectation as we anticipate the coming of our Lord.
With Christmas just a few more days away, the prophet Micah in the first reading for the Fourth Sunday of Advent tells the people of Israel of a promise of a ruler who is to come. One whose greatness will reach the ends of the earth; one who will bring peace. The gospel reading tells of the story of Mary visiting her relative Elizabeth. Both Elizabeth and her still unborn son, John the Baptist, were filled with the Holy Spirit and expressed joy and excitement upon realizing who came to visit them. In the second reading, the letter to the Hebrews reminds us about how Jesus offered His body for us all. So what must we do? Live in the hope that Jesus will again come, receive Christ with rejoicing but at the same time remember why He came what He has done to save us.
Hopefully, the readings during the four weeks of advent helps us to realize the true meaning of what this season is about. Once we do that, maybe we can find the peace we need — even if it is just within ourselves — so we do not mind too much the chaos around us.