Dear friends,

Our Advent wreath has almost all the candles lit; one more Sunday and then we shall be celebrating Christmas.

Little by little the church is getting ready for this glorious day: there is a lot of color purple in church reminding us of the long wait and at the same time we can have glimpses of Christmas in the Christmas trees and decorations we can see in church.

Little by little the nativity is been populated by the traditional figurines. Today John the Baptism makes his entry to prepare the way for Christ, while next Sunday the spot-lights will be on Mary, the mother.

 Today A special kind of man was sent before Jesus to make known that the babe in the manger is more than man, that he is the Messiah. John was truly remarkable man, of great merit and outstanding grace, high above all others. I admire him.
John is the voice, but Jesus is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice that lasts for a time; Christ is the Word who lives for ever.

Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice? Where there is no understanding, there is only a meaningless sound. The voice without the word strikes the ear but does not build up the heart.

When we think about what we are going to say, the word or message is already in our heart. When I want to speak to you, I look for a way to share with your heart what is already in mine.

In my search to communicate with you, I use my voice to speak to you. The sound of my voice brings the meaning of the word to you and then passes away. The word which the sound has brought to you is now in your heart, and yet it is still also in mine.

When the word has been conveyed to you, the sound seems to say: “The Word ought to grow, and I should diminish.”
Let us hold on to the Word; we must not lose the word conceived inwardly in our hearts.

Where is John’s baptism today? It served its purpose, and it went away. Now it is Christ’s baptism that we celebrate. It is in Christ that we all believe; we hope for salvation in him. This is the message the voice cried out.

Because it is hard to distinguish word from voice, even John himself was thought to be the Christ. The voice (john) was thought to be the Word (Christ). But the  John (the voice) acknowledged what it was. “I am not the Christ,” John said, “nor Elijah, nor the prophet. And the question came: Who are you, then? He replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord”

“ To prepare the way”  means  to pray well, to do act of mercy, to be humble  What does prepare the way mean, if not “be humble in your thoughts”? John the Baptist is thought to be the Christ; he declares the he is not what they think. He does not take advantage of their mistake to further his own glory.  If he had said, “I am the Christ,” you can imagine how readily he would have been believed, since they believed he was the Christ even before he spoke. But he did not say it; he acknowledged what he was. He pointed out clearly who he was; he humbled himself. He understood that he was a lamp and not the sun, and his fear was that it might be blown out by the wind of pride. This Sunday is called “rejoice,” because rejoicing is a thread that weaves through all the readings.

In our times John has been replaced by the Church: it is the Church that cries out to us: “Be ready! The Messiah is coming” The church is only a finger pointed to Jesus. I am reminded of an Asian proverb which says: When a wise person point to the moon, what the foolish person sees is only a finger!”

The church is not an end to herself. The church leads us to Christ, but it is up to us to prepare the way, to open up our hearts to Christ.

Christ can be born one million times in Bethlehem, but if he is not born in your heart, you are doomed!

Today’s readings have in common the theme: “Joy” Is a theme very dear to us. You will remember the theme of our Chinese Convention two years ago: “We are telling you these things so that your joy might be complete”

In today’s readings “joy” is not a vague feeling but it wells up in response to very concrete signs of God’s providential care in the life of the three writers: Isaiah, paul and Mary. Our personal history is full of blessings, of God’s providential love for us, guiding all our steps, especially when e were walking in darkness

Besides the theme of joy running through the readings, there is another theme: witness. The Old Testament prophets, Mary and John the Baptist all bear joyful witness to what God has done and will do for his people.

Our vocation as Christians is bear “witness.” to Jesus. In this witness we can and should “rejoice always.”

But can we rejoice when so many things are going wrong? Our economy is in such frightening trouble that countries around the world feel its impact And some of us have personal problems that wear us down and will not go away either. When we look at all these troubles, how are we supposed to rejoice?

Well, “Rejoice” does not simply mean “cheer up.” This is not about looking on the bright side of things. Here we are not speaking about the joy of the lighthearted and carefree, but about a deep-down joy at the core of our being.

There have been times when, no matter how many things were going wrong, we have been basically at peace with ourselves and with our lives. We have not lost sight of what we know by faith: namely that God is a loving parent who cares and watches over us.

Looking at our past life we realize that Jesus has been there, for the highs and the lows. “The Word of God was made flesh in Jesus and pitched his tent among us. From now on, we are never alone.

.We cannot make light of the dangers and disasters that afflict us today, but we must not let them defeat us, either; we must not give in to despair. We look in the crib and see a God who loves us, not from a distance, but in our very midst, as one of us.

May God bless you!