Christmas Novena 2024 - Day 9

24th December: O Morning Star...

The 7 O-Antiphons are over with yesterday...

but the Novena ends today...with the rising of the Morning Star!

O Morning Star, Radiance of eternal light

Sun of Justice, come and enlighten those who live in darkness

and in the Shadow of death.

Morning Star, actually is the star that is seen in the east shining bright just before the dawn! It is considered the imminent sign of the morning that is already rising.

The Lord is not just near... but the Lord is here!!!

We celebrate the Rising Star, the Morning Star that announces the break of day!

The Lord comes to rule in our hearts, not just in the world...

Let us prepare ourselves... for the Lord is here. 

Living in Faith - See the Lord at work and Sing of God's love!

Advent 2024: A Pilgrimage of Hope towards Peace with Joy, in Faith – the Fulfillment of the Journey!

Fourth Tuesday in Advent - December 24, 2024

2 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; Luke 1: 67-79

Living in Faith – is certainly acting on behalf of the Lord, but before all that, it is acknowledging the work of the Lord. The essential difference today among the two kinds of homo faber in the world is precisely this – the one which think he or she is the sole cause all that one makes, and the other kind which knows well that all that one is able to do, comes from the Ultimate Doer, the cause of everything – the Almighty Creator. The sad fact is that the former kind keeps outnumbering the latter.

David, in spite of all the weaknesses and shortfalls and the eventual mercies received from the Lord, still forgets this fact and thinks he has to do something for God! How erroneous of us too – many a time, we think we have to defend God, protect God, debate for God, win arguments for God and prove God to the world! Who are we? The Lord’s glories speak for themselves. The mighty works of God sing out the glories of the Lord.

Living our faith, on our part, would only mean that we acknowledge these works of the Lord, in our daily life, and sing of the love of God, forever. The Lord has made us His promises and those promises would always stand! And in fact, we stand on those promises. We would do good, not to pretend that we are accomplishing great things for God, but indeed the Lord is accomplishing mighty things for us and through us. That is what Zechariah sings of today – the Lord remembers his holy covenant and shows mercy through the ages!

The Morning Star, the Rising Sun of justice, makes us see this fact! Let us resolve to see the Lord at work and sing of God’s love forever! For his is the power, the glory and honour forever! Amen.

Christmas Novena 2024 - Day 8

23rd December: O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Based on the famous prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, the title Emmanuel is the key to the mystery of incarnation. The presence of God with the people was the greatest of the promises that they could experience. Be it with Abraham or with Moses or with Joshua or with the people who were walking in the desert, one of the prominent promises that God gave was to be with them! Christ comes as the fulfilment and the most complete expression as that promise: as God among us.

The symbol is the virgin with the child in the manger. It is not just any child, but the promised salvation of the God of the universe, the king who has come to meet his subjects to make them co-heirs to his throne. The manger is a lovely symbol that unites the heaven and the earth, the Divine and the human!

The presence of the Lord is salvific; one who has experienced it cannot remain silent - he or she has to go out and share it, make every one else experience that presence! This is the crux of evangelisation: it is not proselytisation, not sheep stealing and increasing the numbers within a fold. It is sharing that salvific presence that one has experienced, from the Lord. The first call is to experience the God-with-us, the presence of the Lord with us, and the call that follows is to share that presence with those around - that is salvation.

The prayer is to the Lord our God to save us by God's saving PRESENCE... in simple words it is a beseeching to stay with us, to live with us, to sanctify us, to make us worthy of God and of God's great big family.

Living in Faith – Looking ahead with heads held high!

Advent 2024: A Pilgrimage of Hope towards Peace with Joy, in Faith – the Fulfillment of the Journey!

Fourth Monday in Advent - December 23, 2024

Malachi 3: 1-4, 23-24; Luke 1: 57-66

Living in Faith – amidst all the cry for war and bloodshed, amid all the threat of the post human world on the horizon, amid the hue and cry of the so-called progressivists to relativise everything in the name of personal rights and human autonomy, living in faith would mean living a life that is frightening. That is what is presented in the Word today.

The theme of the end of days, or the Lord’s day, sometimes can be a fiction-friendly leitmotif with all its elements of suspense and secrets. But it cannot be so for a person of faith. That is what St. Paul advised his people when he wrote, “but you, brothers and sisters, you are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.” (1 Thess  5:4) This is so because the Lord has sent us enough messengers and messages, to understand, analyse and come to make our informed choices about everything. We cannot blame anyone for our choices, nor can we feign ignorance about the purpose of our beings, if we are truly persons, children, or people of faith.

When the people saw what was happening with regard to John, the new child born in the neighbourhood, they experienced fear… for us, that should not be, because we are girded with faith. Where there is faith, there is not place for fear, for fear is a by-product of darkness. We are people of the Light, and darkness cannot overcome us, because Emmanuel, God with us, is here, very close to us. And that shall enable us, empower us to walk with our heads held high! Looking up to the Lord with faith, we can face any situation with courage and confidence, with hope, peace and joy – that is what it means to live in faith.