Brothers and Sisters, in our first reading this Sunday, we hear how the Lord told His servant, King David of Israel who ruled over the whole people of God, through the prophet Nathan that He would make his reign secure and He would provide for him and his house, that the reign of David and his successors would be everlasting, and the House of David would indeed rule forever over the whole people of God. God also reassured David that He would take care and look after His people Israel, guiding and shepherding them down the right path. This came about when King David told Nathan how he wanted to build a House of God for the Lord because he felt that it was inappropriate that he lived in a house and palace of cedar and fine wood and yet the Lord was housed in a tent. By the tent, David was referring to the Ark of the Covenant.
The Lord instead pointed out to David that while it may seem that He was present through the Ark of the Covenant among the people, His Holy Presence resting on the Ark itself as the proof of His existence and love for His beloved people, but it does not mean that He could be contained within the Ark or the Holy Tent of Meeting, or any House that King David or anyone else would want to build and establish for Him. God reminded David that He has been with His people, at all times and at every occasion, and places, and His Presence amongst them transcended time and space, and He would always be with them all, caring for them and being with them forever.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Archangel Gabriel revealed to Mary, the Annunciation of the Lord, that is when the Good News of God’s salvation was finally revealed to us through Mary, who was to become the mother and bearer of the Saviour of the world. In fact, Mary became the New Ark of the New Covenant and the Temple and House of God because in her, the Lord Himself, the Divine Word and Son of God had been incarnate in the flesh, and dwelling within her blessed womb, free from any taint of sin, hallowed and sanctified by God, to be worthy to hold the Divine and perfect essence of the Almighty Himself in her. The love of God for us all had made it possible, because God endeavoured and did all things to ensure that we can be reconciled and reunited to Him.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, this Sunday message acts for us as a very crucial reminder of what Christmas is all about, and that is about Love, the Love which God has shown to each and every one of us, and which has been manifested to us in the person of Jesus Christ, the Holy Child born unto us and which we celebrate about in Christmas.
This is why, after having reflected on the aspects of Hope, Peace and Joy in the previous three Sundays of Advent, today we all focus on the Aspect of Love, reminding us that everything that we are about to celebrate in Christmas is all possible now because of the Love of God that has always endured all this while for us. For without God’s Love, there would have been no hope for any one of us, and we would have ended up in damnation and destruction because of our sins caused by our disobedience against God. It was God’s ever patient and enduring love which brought us all from the depth of this darkness and despair, into the light of His salvation and grace, again through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, the reason for our Christmas joy.
Let us all prepare ourselves well for the beginning of the joyous Christmas season, with a renewed faith and zeal, with greater love and devotion to God, and the willingness to do whatever we need so that we may always embody the love of God in our every moment in life. If God has loved us so much that He was willing to come into our midst and even adopting our humble human existence, and even to suffer and die for us, then should we not love Him in the same manner too? May the Lord be with us all and may He bestow His love and kindness to us, so that our Christmas celebrations and festivities will always be full of His love in us loving Him more and and more devotedly, and in our love for one another, now and always.