"God is with us" (Mt 1:23)

With the Fall, the Evil One has entered our human world. His perversion manifests itself in many ways in our lives. We also experience traces of his corruption in our family life. Nowadays his corruption is even more present, visible in the life of families. 

 If we want it, it can happen with us. Thus the smile of Christ at Christmas will revitalize us to the depths of our souls. It will enlighten the atmosphere of this feast. Let us therefore embrace, protect and increase the grace and smile of Christ in our hearts. That way we will have a beautiful Christmas!

Many people are named John, and may not know that this name means "God is gracious". It is the name given to John the Baptist because it was the name God had told his father to name him when he announced the birth of his child.

Gyula Juhász, the Hungarian poet, in his poem "The Nativity Carol", calls us: "Oh, people, think of him today!" At this time of the year, at Christmas, we can think of many things. We can think of the spirit of Christmases gone by, of the gifts we have received, of the joy of togetherness, but also of the stifling poverty, of lost loved ones, of distant relatives, of depressing loneliness. Oh, people, think of him today!

Those who can appreciate a gift and through it the love of the one who prepared that gift, will be filled with joy and gratitude. Our Lady is also overjoyed and full of gratitude. 

The meeting of the two women, the Blessed Virgin Mary and her relative, Elizabeth, is one of the key events of the history of our salvation, otherwise it would not have been recorded in the Gospel of St Luke. Elizabeth calls Mary blessed among women, calls her the Mother of the Lord and proclaims her blessed and happy because of her faith. Throughout history, our Church, following in Elizabeth's footsteps, has fulfilled Our Lady's prophecy, which she said in her praising hymn: "Behold, henceforth all generations shall proclaim me blessed." (Lk 1,48) I am a true child of my heavenly Mother, if I honour and love her and strive to live according to her example.  

esus said the most perfect "yes" to God, and the Virgin Mary’s is the second most perfect “yes”. Although she does not fully understand the content of God's message and asks questions, she is able to submit to God's plan and will with these words.

As we approach Christmas, we contact our loved ones, good friends and acquaintances, we send greetings cards or we visit them. We send them our festive wishes or gifts. It is love and appreciation for them that makes us do so. 

According to the custom of the Jews at that time, being engaged gave the right to live like in marriage. St. Joseph was away from Nazareth for a long time at the time of the greeting of the angel, his bride was still in her parents' house. When she answered to the angel, the Word was incarnate in her immaculate heart, to be born nine months later in Bethlehem. 

The bodily birth of the Lord Jesus proves that the incarnation is real, that the Lord Jesus is true God and true man, and that salvation is a fundamental teaching of our faith.

When our desires are not fulfilled, when it seems that God does not listen to our prayers, let us remember that the Lord Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah who has redeemed the world and will grant all our requests that are for the good of our souls, not as we would like, but as he sees fit for our own good!

For us, the lesson is that it is not enough to make baptismal vows and promises, but those promises must be fulfilled! St. John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, reformer and Doctor of the Carmelite Order, did the same when reforming their religious order: they returned to the original promise without any alleviation.  

For us the answer is obvious: the Lord Jesus is true God and true man, the incarnate second divine person, the Son who redeemed the world. This is our faith, and it is for this faith that the martyrs, like Saint Lucia, the virgin of Syracuse, sacrificed their life.

Since we are living in a salvific and eternal Advent, we await the glorious second coming of our Lord Jesus at the end of the world.

It is in the middle of our lives that we realise our parents and close friends have always had our best interests at heart. This comforting message reaches the chosen people when God repeats it through the prophets. In our quiet Advent waiting we are also reassured that God is teaching us. At the same time, we see how we sometimes find so many excuses, we are so full of ulterior motives and intentions, why we are "not moved" by the word of God. If we pay attention to the goodness of God, we become better people.

It is so easy to be overcome by fear every day, even though we know for sure that God is our caring, good Father. Now, in the Advent season, we turn to God, and it is good to hear his comforting message, "Do not be afraid." Fear is the measure of our distance from God: the further we are from him, the more we fear. As we draw nearer to him, we are filled with peace.  

There is no lost life, no lost person, that our good shepherd Jesus will not go after and rejoice over, more than of those who have not gone astray. Most of the time we count ourselves among the 99 true, and less often we identify with the lost one. Moreover, we fail to understand the logic of Jesus when he goes after the lost one. Yet we are the ones who walk far from him, our thoughts, words, actions, faithless lives is far from Jesus. And yet He seeks us, finds us and rejoices over us.