May the liturgical season of Advent, awaken our hearts, fill us with hope, lead us to the kairos in which the Lord comes. He comes to meet us, redeem us, love us and call us to the fullness of life!

For the past two weeks of this holy season we have been reflecting on the second coming of Jesus,  coming  in glory and power. The key themes of our reflections were preparation, watchful waiting, vigilance, prayer and justice. Our reflection on the second coming of the Lord is not a threat or judgment to be feared but a joyous experience of communion with the Lord.

Now we have just entered into the third week of Advent.  A week that began with Gaudete Sunday, a Sunday of rejoicing and gladness, reminding us that Christmas is drawing near and our reflect on his Incarnation first coming of our Lord on the earth.

While the Gospel reflections of last two Sundays focused on the preaching of the John the Baptist on repentance and faith, today’s Gospel recounts the announcement of his immanent conception and his role to be the voice, crying out to prepare the people fit to receive the coming of the Lord.

This wondrous angelic announcement Instead of leading Zechariah to rejoicing and gladness, led him to disbelief and fear, stricking him to be dumb on the point of falling into despair. He could not even give the usual blessing on the people after he came out of the sanctuary, since he had lost the power of speech.

This was perhaps the most crucial moment in his life; a moment of becoming a father of a son who would be the for-runner of Jesus and a moment of accepting the punishment for his disbelief.

We will see in our further reflection the goodness in Zechariah wining over the evil of despair leading him to open his lips in a song of benediction for God’s graciousness to him on the day of the birth of his son. 

As the celebration of Christmas is drawing near we need to be careful not to enter into a world of despair and disappointment on account of our failures and sinful human nature. 

We shall not let ourselves be tempted to remain in despair by the “prophets of doom” when things do not go the way we want them to go.

We have to restrain from harbouring negative feelings, holding on to resentment or any sentiments of anger residing in our hearts; giving rise to despair and desperation to the point of losing hope.

We shall not keep score of our failures; we shall not hold on to our reproaches or any other hurt feelings when God seems to be far away, punishing us for our wrong doings.

We need to pray and let ourselves be redeemed by immeasurable riches of God’s mercy and forgiveness poured out to humanity through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.