Advent, 23rd December 2025, Tuesday

Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24 / Luke 1:57-66  

As the feast of Christmas comes just around the corner, the season of Advent still has many lessons of faith for us.

The season of Advent is a season of the mystery of the ways of God.

There is the Annunciation in which Mary was told that God chose her to bear His only Son.

Before that, the conception of John the Baptist was announced to Zechariah but he didn’t believe it and he was struck dumb.

All the happenings in the season in Advent are just beyond human reasoning and human understanding.

But the plan of salvation and God becoming man in Jesus Christ, is in the first place truly beyond reasoning and understanding.

Today’s gospel passage is another instance where the ways of God are so unexpected and interesting.

Elizabeth wanted her child to be named John, but the relatives objected.

They then asked Zachariah and he wrote on a tablet that the child’s name is John, and then Zachariah got back his power of speech.

Even though the season has only a couple of days left, God will still reveal His mysterious ways to us.

May we be about to understand and comprehend in our human ways the love that God has for us in sending us His Son to save us.

Advent, 22nd December 2025, Monday

1 Samuel 1:24-28 / Luke 1:46-56  

To give up something precious is never easy as far as human beings are concerned.

More so, if it is something that we have worked hard for.

It may be our savings, or our resources, our projects.

Those are the expressions of our achievements and our abilities.

But those are our external possessions, and though they are valuable to us, we may still be able to give them up, though not so easily.

But for Hannah in the 1st reading, she was giving up her only son, Samuel.

Hannah prayed for a child and God blessed her with Samuel.

But she knew that the gift of Samuel will be for God’s purpose and not for her to keep or possess.

Hence, she says: Now I make him over to the Lord for the whole of his life. He is made over to the Lord.

Certainly, it was not easy for Hannah to let go of Samuel, but she did so because she understood that God had a greater purpose for Samuel.

In the gospel, we see two expectant mothers rejoicing over the gifts of life in their wombs.

But both also knew that the time will come when they have to let go of their sons for God’s purposes.

As we reflect upon these two readings, let us also remember that our lives are not for our own purposes but for God’s plan.

Let us put our lives into God’s hands and we will find the true meaning and purpose of our lives.

4th Sunday of Advent, Year A, 21.12.2025

Isaiah 7:10-14 / Romans 1:1-7 / Matthew 1:18-25

There is a game quiz that tests our knowledge of song titles or movie titles. 

In this game quiz, a word is given, and with a time limit, the contestant or contestants have to give the song titles or movie titles that has that word. 

So, let’s say that the word is “love”, and in 30 seconds, we have to name as many song titles as we can with the word “love” in it. 

Some of the song titles can be oldies like “Love me tender”, or from the pop era it will be “Endless love”. 

So, let’s say now the word is “dream” or “dreaming”. Let us think of some songs with the word “dream” or “dreaming” in it. 

Probably, the first song to come to mind during this season will be “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”. 

From the 60s it may be this: All I have to do is dream.

Other songs from the 70s will be “I like dreaming”. 

Or from the 80s it will be “Sweet dreams are made of this”. 

Each generation will have their songs about dreams or dreaming. 

And each of us will also have our dreams about who we want to be, and what we want in life. 

To dream is to be able to imagine what kind of future we want for ourselves and how to achieve it. 

For Mary and Joseph, they too had their dreams about life. 

And their dreams became more distinct and directional when they were betrothed to each other. 

Mary would have thought of becoming a loving and caring wife and a devoted mother. 

Joseph would have thought of being a faithful husband and providing for the future family. 

They were not just in their own personal dreams. They had each other in their dreams. 

And then their dreams began to change when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her that God had plans for her. 

Mary said “yes” and she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. All this is beyond reasoning and understanding. 

When Joseph found out that Mary was with child, we can imagine his reaction, which could be rather unpleasant. 

But still, being a man of honour, he wanted to spare Mary the publicity and decided to divorce her informally.

He had decided to do this when he had a dream, in which God spoke to him and told him to take Mary home to be his wife. 

It is a life changing dream, and Joseph could have rejected it. 

After all, his original dreams about the future with Mary and having a family seemed to have crumbled, and it is understandable that Joseph was confused and disappointed, to say the least. 

For Mary and Joseph, God entered into their dreams and their lives are going to be changed forever. 

But God was not just a dream, God became a reality in the child that Mary conceived, and Joseph is to name him Jesus. 

In the 1st reading, the prophet Isaiah told king Ahaz that God will give him a sign, although king Ahaz didn’t want that sign because he had no faith and trust in God.

Nonetheless the sign was given. A maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will name Immanuel, a name which means God-is-with-us. 

That prophecy is fulfilled in the gospel, when the angel told Joseph to name the child “Jesus”, the name which means “God saves” or “God is salvation”. 

So, in Jesus, the hopes and dreams of the people of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament is fulfilled. 

And Jesus came to be with us, and He wants to be in our dreams. 

We may be dreaming of a white Christmas, but it is not about snow or with everything nice and bright. 

Jesus wants to be in our Christmas dream, so then we will dream about the true meaning of Christmas. 

We dream about peace to people of goodwill, and joy to a world that have seen sadness, pain and suffering. 

There’s this song from the early 80s and the lyrics are worth reflecting. The title is “I have a dream” and it goes like this:

I Have a Dream, a song to sing

To help me cope, with anything

If you see the wonder, of a fairy tale

You can take the future, even if you fail

I believe in angels

Something good in everything I see

I believe in angels

When I know the time is right for me

I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream

Let us dream, and may Jesus come into our dreams. 

When Jesus is in our dreams then … 

we will sing the songs we want to sing, 

we will forget about that perfect rendering,

because there is a crack in everything, 

but that is how the light shines in. 

May the light of Christ shine into our dreams, and may we dream of a truly blessed Christmas for us and for the world.

Advent, 20th December 2025, Saturday

Isaiah 7:10-14 / Luke 1:26-38  

The Bible is divided into two sections – the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament prophesied about the coming of the Messiah or the Saviour.

The New Testament tells us how this promise of God is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

In the 1st reading, the prophet spoke of a sign from God:

The maiden will give birth to a son whom she will call Emmanuel, a name which means “God-is-with-us”.

That name Emmanuel not only comforts the People of God in their distress, it also assures them that God is still with them and has not abandoned them.

The gospel account is about the Annunciation, which is the moment in which the promise of God is about to be fulfilled.

The angel Gabriel told Mary that she is to conceive and bear a son, and she must name him Jesus.

The name Jesus means “God saves” or “God is salvation”.

Indeed Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of the Old Testament and even going beyond.

He is God became man, He is the God-is-with-us, and He is the God who saves His people from their sins.

And like Mary, Jesus also wants to make His home in our hearts and in our lives.

Let us like Mary, say “yes” to Jesus, and everything will be possible because God is with us and His love has saved us.

Advent, 19th December 2025, Friday

Judges 13:2-7, 24-25 / Luke 1:5-25   

In life, we need to have purpose and meaning as we journey along.

There can be a sustained purpose and meaning when there are faith and hope.

Faith tells us that God loves us, and hope tells us that God’s love is an everlasting love for us.

So, when we believe in God’s promises, we will keep on believing and wait for its fulfilment.

For Zachariah, he had believed in God’s love for him and his wife Elizabeth.

He had hoped for a child, but as he and Elizabeth advanced in age, the hope was dimming.

He only hung on to his faith that God will keep him and Elizabeth together even though they were childless.

So, when the angel Gabriel told him that Elizabeth will bear a son, he thought it was impossible.

Maybe a dimmed hope and a jaded faith led Zachariah to this thinking.

We too had our faith and hope tested. 

And especially over a long period of time, our faith is jaded and our hope is dimmed.

But let us hang on to our faith and keep believing in God’s love for us.

And let us also keep hoping that the promises of God will be fulfilled in God’s time and in God’s way.

Advent, 18th December 2025, Thursday

Jeremiah 23:5-8 / Matthew 1:18-24     

As we prepare for the celebration of Christmas, we are also wishing that Christmas will be nice and pretty.

And in many ways, we also wish that life is nice and pretty.

But the fact is that life is not a bed of roses, because there are the thorns that come with the roses.

That is the harsh reality of life, and that is also the harsh reality that Mary and Joseph faced in the gospel.

To follow the plan of God and to do God’s will was certainly not a bed of roses for them.

Mary accepted the call to bear the Son of God and she immediately faced an uncertain and even dangerous future.

Joseph could not understand what happened, but he wanted to do an honourable deed by intending to divorce Mary informally.

So, it can be said that when the Son of God was to come into this world, it wasn’t a nice and pretty welcome.

But out of this messy situation, God’s will prevailed and His plan of salvation continued.

Yes, God wanted to be with us and loved us so much that He sent His only Son into this messy and broken world.

And because God wanted to be with us and to love us, let us entrust ourselves to God’s will and to carry out His plan in our lives.

And God will show us how He will make a way for us.

Advent, 17 December 2025, Wednesday

Genesis 49:2, 8-10 / Matthew 1:1-17   

Today makes the beginning of a deeper journey into the Advent season.

The nine days before Christmas is a time to enter into the mystery of the Incarnation, the Word made flesh.

The gospel passage is about the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

It begins with Abraham and ends with Joseph, the husband of Mary, of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

In short, the genealogy recalls the people in the history of salvation whom God calls to fulfil His plan.

In that list of people, it was like a tapestry of characters, with some who were faithful, and yet there were others who make us wonder why they were even mentioned.

But the genealogy shows us that God can make it straight even when the line is crooked.

It also shows that God came into humanity in all its weakness and brokenness, so as to seek and save what was lost.

But even that does not fully explain the great mystery of the Incarnation, and why God chose to become man in the person of Jesus Christ.

As we enter deeper into the season of Advent, let us also be filled with the spirit of Advent and give thanks to God for His great saving love for us.