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Text Box: ANTICIPATION OF WHAT IS TO COME To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul. In thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed. Neither let my enemies laugh at me: for none of them that wait on thee shall be confounded. Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths. Advent is the time during which we anticipate the birth of Our Lord, His coming to teach all mankind, His taking on of human nature while retaining His Divine Nature. In our very anticipation we begin to make ourselves ready to fulfill our salvation, for we seek salvation and anticipate its requirements and attempt to fulfill its requirements in that anticipation. Just as someone who anticipates failure will prepare for failure, and therefore will have a greater probability of failure, so too is it that those who anticipate success will prepare for success and will have a greater probability of success. In this the season of Advent, as we prepare to celebrate the Birthday of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, anticipate not only celebrating His birthday, but also anticipate your successfully following His teachings, reaching their fulfillment in eternal union with God in Heaven. Ref: Rom. 13: 11-14; Luke 21: 25-34; Ps. 24:1-3,4 +

Text Box: PREPARING FOR CHRIST Saint John the Forerunner, known also as the Baptist, and his followers, wanted to know if Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour. But it is reasonable to expect Saint John already knew that Jesus is the Messiah, for when Saint John was still in his mother’s womb, and the blessed Ever Virgin Mary, carrying Jesus in her womb, made her Visitation, Saint John leapt in his mother’s womb in recognition of the Divinity of Jesus, and at that time Saint John was freed from sin so he could fulfill his place as the Forerunner. Saint John and Jesus were cousins, and knew each other all their lives. Saint John Baptized Jesus, at which time God the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of a dove, and God the Father appeared and said of Jesus: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased (Mark 1:11), all of which Saint John saw and heard. Obviously the inquiry as to whether Jesus is the Messiah was for the benefit of the followers of Saint John. Today, we have the advantage of Wisdom founded in Faith, which tells us Jesus is the Messiah, God, the Son of God, and we will soon celebrate His birthday, which is the day he began His active public life - God, fully Divine and yet fully human. He began this public life with the announcement of His birth by the Angels to the shepherds. But for those whose wisdom is not founded in Faith, who have but natural wisdom, the celebration is meaningless. Such people celebrate a calendar date, a social date, a holiday, a marketing season, a time for making profits, making merry, a time of secularism. As Christians we need but avoid the mercenary aspects of the secular celebration, and are free to make merry, be happy, socialize, provided all are part of and not in conflict with the religious aspects of the celebration, for it is the religious aspects which are important. As we prepare to celebrate the birthday

Text Box: of Our Lord, we can grasp the opportunity to also prepare ourselves for the rest of our lives. We can begin to fulfill the prayer which pleads to God the Father: O Lord, stir up our hearts to prepare the way of your only-begotten Son, so that, through his coming on earth, we may serve you always with a pure intention. In the Wisdom of Faith, we do not wish to just prepare ourselves for a Holy and therefore joyous celebration of the birth of Our Saviour. In that Wisdom we wish to also prepare ourselves to be true followers of Christ, and to actually be true followers of Christ. Ref: Romans 15:4-13; Mat. 11:2-10 +

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