The First Sunday of Advent

This week is the first sunday of Advent. And this week is when we light the first of four candles - the candle of Hope.

Hope has been a massively marketed concept these days.

And yet, sometimes we fail to understand the magnitude of this hope. Being in Malaysia, it's relatively easy to take the world for granted, to always think that the world will catch us when we fall. It is easy for us, as Catholics and Christians, to hold on to our faith, because God seems to have made it good for us. So easy for us to cling on to this image of Christ as a loving Redeemer and Savior.

Others have a different story to tell.

When senseless destruction rocks the world, when people are killed for no apparent reason, when family members are snatched away in one fell moment, well...hope does not come so easy.

But there is hope. There will always be hope. And we as Christians live with this hope in our hearts because of the knowledge that Christ died for us, and He will be coming back to save us all. And until then, He and His Father will watch over us.

"For this reason, keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people."

-Ephesians 5:18

So as we light the candle of Hope this Sunday, as we journey together into the first Sunday of Advent, let's all try and discover the true meaning of Christmas together. And let's all pray that we will have enough hope to share with all the people of the world that need it more than us.

God bless us all!