Maria Lactans – Honoring Mary as the Theotokos on the Octave Day of Christmastide

The octave day in the Christmastide is marked as the solemnity of Mary as the Theotokos, though it was formerly celebrated as the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. It was because baby Jesus was circumcised and given his name, Jesus, on the 8^th day from his birth (Luke 2:21) in accordance with the brit milah mizvah of Leviticus 12:3.

On the Christmas octave day, a focus has shifted from the circumcision of the Son to his mother, Mary so that we can reflect on how baby Jesus was on the 8^th day from his birth with his mother, Mary.  Certainly, it is much better to reflect on Mary holding on 8-day-old baby Jesus in her breast than the circumcision of baby Jesus on his 8^th day of life.

What did 8-day old baby Jesus really look like with his mother, Mary? Imagine, 8-day-old baby Jesus being held in Mary’s breast, perhaps sucking breast milk from her nipple.

An image of Mary and baby Jesus together, baby Jesus held in Mary’s breast, being nursed by her love. And, this motherly love for her newborn baby may be symbolized by her life-sustaining breast milk and the breast itself. 

Baby Jesus on his 8^th day of life incarnate is extremely vulnerable and cannot survive without Mary’s breast. Unless Mary offers her breast to him, baby Jesus would not survive, not to mention, to thrive. Though he is God himself, the Messiah King, he came to this world as such a baby so vulnerable totally on the mercy of her mother’s loving care. And, as the handmaid of God (Luke 1:38) to serve God as the Theotokos, Mary gives her breast to her son, the Son of God, so that he can grow healthy and strong.

An image of Mary breastfeeding baby Jesus, not only give a sense of peace but secureness, keeping from anxieties. And, later in his life, Jesus himself invites us to this kind of peace and secureness as he calls us to be one with him as he is one with the Father.

As we complete the Christmas Octave in honoring Blessed Virgin Mary as the Theotokos with an image of Maria Lactans,  we also reflect that the love of God inviting us to rest in through Christ (John 14:20) in nursing Mary’s love for her Son, sucking her breast and resting there peacefully.

Maria Lactans not only represents the secure attachment of baby Jesus to his mother, Mary, but also our secure attachment to God, for which God the Father sent His only begotten Son, to which Mary has become the Theotokos as the handmaid of God.  Additionally, Maria Lactans, can be a heartwarming symbol that God’s chesed  can be compared to nursing mother’s love for her baby, as reflected in Isaiah 66:10-13.

May the New Year bring abundant blessings and grace of God like the richness of breast milk from Mary's breast that has nourished baby Jesus! 

Christmas Octave Reflection of the Holy Family and Christian Families

Now we are in the Christmas Octave to continue reflecting what it means to have the Logos-Theos incarnated (John 1:1) to dwell among us (John 1:14). This God incarnate is, indeed, Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14, 8:8; cf. Matthew 28:20), which means “God with us”, named Jesus (Matthew 1:25), which means “יה (yah), Yahweh (יהוה), will save”.  The Father in heaven has sent him to us as our Messiah King out of his salvific love (John 3:16). Yes, the Nativity of the Lord, the very first theophany by the incarnation of the Logos-Theos, is indeed the very first sacramental manifestation of God’s חסד (chesed), steadfast covenant love, for us!

The Sunday following the Nativity feast of the Lord (Christmas Day), during the Christmas Octave, is the feast Sunday of the Holy Family, as instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893. This suggests that the Nativity of the Lord must be celebrated, appreciated, and understood, in the context of the Holy Family, not only during the Christmas Octave but throughout the entire Christmastide. And, the Holy Family, to which Christ was born, represents what Christian families are to be. 

So, what is the nature of the Holy Family that Christian families can model?

It is, indeed, the steadfast faith in God, leading to obedience to God’s will.

As Luke 1:38 describes, Mary demonstrated her faith in God through her obedience to God’s will for her to be the Theotokus, while she was betrothed to Joseph but not yet consummated her engagement into matrimony.  Finding out of Mary’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy, Joseph was planning to divorce her quietly as it is not legal to marry a woman pregnant with a child, who is not his, but loved her enough to protect her from legal consequence, which is a death penalty (Matthew 1:18-19). Then, Joseph learned from Angel Gabriel, who made the Annunciation of her virgin pregnancy to her, that Mary was made pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit according to God’s will (Matthew 1:20-23). To this, Joseph responded with his obedience and welcomed Mary as his wife and the son in her womb as his step son (Matthew 1:24-25), because Joseph is just as obedient to God as his wife, Mary, is. The obedience that both Mary and Joseph have demonstrated reflects their uncompromising faith.

Jesus was born to this faithful couple, Mary and Joseph, whose faith made them obedient to God. Therefore, it is evident that Jesus’ absolute faithfulness and obedience to the Father and His will (John 4:34, 5:30, 6:38, 8:26, 10:18, 12:49-50, 14:30-31, 15:10; Matthew 26:39//Mark 14:36//Luke 22:42; Luke 23:46; Philippians 2:8) was affected by the obedience of Mary and Joseph during his formative years in the Holy Family.

See, not only Mary and Joseph but Jesus are all faithful, and therefore, obedient to God the Father.

Faith, which leads to obedience, is associated with hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:8). Therefore, the steadfast faithfulness of the Holy Family, demonstrated by Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, also means that hope and love are other characteristic of this family to which we are to model. 

As Christian families are becoming more like the Holy Family in regard to the steadfast faith, not only we become more obedient to God’s will but, as St. John Paul II has put it in his apostolic exhortation, “Familiaris Consortio”,  our families can serve as more powerful and efficacious agents of Christian hope and love.

Remember, there is the Holy Family because Mary, the wife, and Joseph, the husband, are both faithful and therefore obedient to God's will. Otherwise, the Son of God, the Messiah King, would not have been born in the human flesh of Jesus and nurtured by this Holy Couple. Christian families are to be the placed where children are born and nurtured to grow like Jesus.

During this Christmastide, may all Christian families throughout the world grow more like the Holy Family in regard to the steadfast faith, leaning to obedience in association with hope and love, so that the salvific spirit of Christmas is embodied, reflected and radiated through our Christian families.

From Santa to the Father in Heaven: Reflection of the Christmas Gift

It is Christmas Eve, the last day of Advent Season, through which we have been preparing for the coming (adventus) of…..

Guess who is coming at an unknown hour by the time we wake up tomorrow morning?

Santa Clause? Sure, if you are under a certain age and nice. But, if you are naughty, then, no Santa to you.

Children are more preoccupied with Santa’s coming to bring gifts to them by the time they wake up on Christmas morning.

This tradition of Santa Clause bringing gifts to nice children while they are asleep from Christmas eve night into early Christmas morning is based on St. Nicholas’ generosity to children in need. To honor St. Nicholas’ wish, the tradition of Santa Clause emerged so that no children would wake up on Christmas morning without a gift, even their families are too poor to buy gifts or even they are orphans.

Now, those who are mature enough to be responsible for children’s dream for gifts from Santa have been busy shopping the gifts during Advent. They do not mind so much about spending time out of their own busy schedule to shop Christmas gifts for children they care about. Many of them enjoy being Santa to the children.

The tradition of Santa Claus for Christmas reminds us that Christmas is about a gift. But, it is not a gift that many children would hope to get from Santa. It is not a kind of gift nicely wrapped and placed under Christmas tree. It was the gift that the Father in heaven has sent to us, His beloved children.

This gift from the Father in heaven was first sent to the Immaculate womb of Mary, the blessed virgin, betrothed to Joseph, the righteous man by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:18,20).  The reception of this divine gift to Mary was a total surprise when Angel Gabriel announced it to her but she accepted it with humility (Luke 1:26-38). And, her acceptance of the gift from God led to her joy as she dung in Magnificat canticle (Luke 1:46-55).

Let us not to forget that it was also Joseph, who accepted this gift from God by accepting Mary as his legal wife, though he did not want to marry a woman, who had been made pregnant by someone other than him at first (Matthew 1:18-25).

Thus, through Mary and Joseph, we, too, have received the greatest gift of all, Christ, who was first received in Mary’s Immaculate womb, then, delivered to the world to fulfill Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, such as Isaiah 7:14.


Yes, children love the jolly Santa tradition associated with nicely wrapped Christmas gifts to know that someone loves them. But, let us not forget the real Christmas gift that the heavenly Father has sent to us out of His love for us (John 3:16) by making the Logos-Theos in the human flesh of Jesus (John 1:1, 14), with the power of the Holy Spirit affecting Mary (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:18,20) as Mary was full of grace (Luke 1:28, 30), she herself was the Immaculate Conception, being conceived in her mother’s womb without any trace of the Original Sin (Infafabilis Deus).

This divine gift, the Christ, was received first by Mary and then by Joseph, her chaste husband, because both of them were open to God’s will. So, Mary opened her heart and womb to receive Christ as the ultimate gift for us, as our Mother. Then, Joseph received Christ in Mary’s womb as he accepted her as his legal wife. This way, Christ, heavenly Father’s greatest gift to us, legally has the Davidic royal lineage with the Abrahamic ancestry (Matthew 1:1-17).

On this Christmas eve, first and foremost, our hearts goes out to the Father in heaven, with heartfelt gratitude, for sending us this greatest gift in the human history, Jesus the Christ, with the Davidic royal line, to be our King of the universe, and with the eternal order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:11-25; Psalm 110:4 ), to be our High Priest. 

Of course, we are grateful to Mary, who humbly accepted God’s invitation to receive this divine gift first as the Theotokos and also as the Mother to us. Not to mention, we thank Joseph for marrying to Mary, who was already pregnant with this gift in her womb, to give Christ the Davidic legal lineage, and provide all the necessities for the gift to grow into the maturity to bring us the good tidings for our salvation.

So, where do we fit into this Christmas tradition of gift-giving and gift-receiving?

The Santa tradition is just a metaphor was a step into appreciating how loving the Father in heaven has been. As Santa loves good children, the heavenly Father loves us far more than Santa loves children. That is why the gift from the Father in heaven on Christmas is priceless and given to all those who accept him with gratitude and joy.

On this Christmas Eve, are we ready to receive and fully accept this divine gift from the Father in heaven with our open heart? It is this gift from the heavenly Father, who has been coming, and whose coming that we have been preparing throughout the Advent Season.  For this, we have recalled the words of John the Baptist, citing Isaiah 40:3, making a straight high way for the Lord’s coming (Matthew 3:3//Mark 1:3//Luke 3:4), as we have heard on the Second Sunday of Advent.

When the world received this gift, Jesus Christ, he was not so welcomed. In fact, when Mary and Joseph were desperately looking for a nice place to deliver this gift from the heavenly Father, they were declined to have a room in an inn. So, they had to deliver this gift in a stable and wrapped him with swaddling clothes to place in a manger. It was far from a warm and comfortable crib for a newborn baby gift.

Let us make sure that our hearts are much better than the manger in the stable, where Jesus the greatest gift was first received by the world.

Are our hearts warm and comfortable for the greatest gift to be received as he comes?

Do our hearts have enough love to wrap this gift?

If our answers to these question are yes without hesitation, then, we must be ready for Christmas.

Let us also remember that Christ is the first gift from our heavenly Father, delivered to us through the cooperation of Mary and Joseph as our Parakletos (1 Johm 2:1). We have also received another gift of Parakletos, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26), on Pentecost, also from the Father in heaven, in the name of Christ the gift. 

May our hearts be like these of Mary and Joseph, who have accepted this divine gift first with their open, humble, and loving heart, so that we, too, can receive Jesus Christ, this gift.  Amen.

Merry Christmas!

Advent is Not for Holiday Stress but a Time of Preparatory Penance and Anticipatory Joy.

As we have begun the Advent Season on Cycle A, let us make sure our Advent will be as what Advent is meant to be. It means that our Advent  will not turn into a time of holiday stress but a time of preparatory penance and anticipatory joy for Christ's coming. 

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Happy New Liturgical Year and Happy Advent! It’s Year (Cycle) A!

A liturgical year (cycle) begins with the First Sunday of Advent on all cycles (A, B, C).  We have just begun a liturgical year of A on this First Advent Sunday on the ABC-3-cycle liturgical calendar.

Because the liturgical color of the Advent season is purple and there is no gloria singing at Mass during this season, just as it is the case during Lent, we regard this preparatory season for Christmas as a penitential. However, Advent is not considered as a penitential liturgical season in the eyes of the Canon Law. Nevertheless, it bears a penitential tone like Lent mainly reflecting a theme of the Second Sunday of Advent Gospel readings on Cycle A and Cycle B (Matthew 3:1-12, A; Mark 1:1-8, B): repent because the Kingdom of God is at hand. For this reason, all the Second Sunday of Advent Gospel readings (Matthew 3:1-12, A; Mark 1:1-8, B; Luke 3:1-6, C) cite Isaiah 40:3, which says the voice in the wilderness is calling to prepare the straight way of the Lord to come. It means that a prophetic voice in the wilderness is calling us to remove all obstacles that may get in the way of the Lord to come, as his Kingdom is at hand. The obstacles are our sins. Therefore, the Second Sunday of Advent focuses on our need to repent in order to truly joyfully prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord on Christmas.

Yes, though there is a penitential tone of this preparatory liturgical season, except for the Gaudete Sunday (the Third Sunday of Advent), which focuses on joy in our anticipation of the Lord’s coming, it is essentially a season to rejoice. Therefore, we can say, “Happy Advent!” in addition to “Happy New Liturgical Year!”

So, we have just begin a new liturgical year with the Advent season of preparatory penance and anticipatory joy on this First Sunday of Advent on Cycle A to set the tone for the season. And it is important to reflect this theme from the Gospel Reading of the First Sunday of Advent.

These are the words of Christ read for the First Sunday of Advent on Cycle A:

"As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!

For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." (Matthew 24:37-44)

Jesus spoke these words directly to his disciples in Jerusalem during his last seven days before his Crucifixion.

Basically, the above kerygma of Christ emphasizes the importance of being vigilant for the coming of the Lord so that we are prepared to meet his at his arrival. Vigilance – so that we will not be caught being destructed from recognizing signs of his coming and making ourselves prepared to meet him at his arrival, when he actually comes. Yes, he is coming as he promised to the disciples during the Last Supper (John 14:1-3). And, he wants us to be prepared for his coming at an unexpected and unannounced hour (Matthew 24:37).

The way Jesus put this important teaching is that his unannounced coming may be like how the Great Deluge wiped out those who were too ignorant about the coming of the flood (Genesis 6:9-7:24) in Matthew 24:37-39. They did not know that the flood was coming because they had lost faith and had been preoccupied with mundane matters to the point of wickedness. Jesus has given us a warning that we would face this kind of punishment if we are unprepared to meet him when he is coming, and we may be in such a trouble if we were too busy with worldly and earthly affairs to keep our faith in preparing ourselves for his coming.

As the Advent Season progresses toward Christmas, many of us go experience so-called “holiday stress”. We become more stressed during the Advent Season as we become increasingly busy with holiday shopping. We are also very with so many social events that come with heavy eating and drinking during this season of a year. With all these mundane and worldly stressors, how can we really stay focused on Christ and his coming, in preparing ourselves vigilantly for his arrival? How can we keep us from all these distractions and remain focused on making high way for Christ to come to us during the Advent Season?

Imagine you were so busy shopping and partying to a point of sin of gluttony when Christ comes and you did not even notice his arrival. Then, which one would you be: one taken by Christ or one left in this world to be deconstructed (Matthew 24:40-41)? If you let the worldly preholiday and holiday craziness make you off-guard while Christ is coming, you would be left by him when he comes to take those who remain vigilant with him (i.e. 1 Thessalonians 4:17). While those who are taken by Christ with him upon his coming are like Noah but those who are left out will be like those who were washed out by the Great Deluge.

After all, Advent is a season of penance to remove obstacles in our hearts to make straight highway for God to come, as the Second Sunday of Advent reminds us. At the same time, it is also a season of anticipatory joy, as the Gaudete Sunday (the Third Sunday of Advent) reflects. It is not a season to drive ourselves to destructive stress, raising our blood cortisol level.

To make the Advent Season as it is meant to be, in light of Christ’s kerygma for us to prepare for his coming, we must be strong enough to remove all obstacles, which distract our attention from Christ and his coming. Namely, these obstacles are our sins, internally, and are distracting factors, such as unnecessary shopping and partying, externally.

The world, where evil prevails, and its secular norms tempt us with false notion of “joy” but self-destructive down-spiral hedonism and gluttony, to keep our attention from Christ and his coming, making us drowsy to his coming. So, let us remember these words of Paul, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect”(Romans 12:2). And, the will of God in the Advent context is discerned from the Gospel text of Matthew 24:37-44.

If you find yourself stressed as the Advent Season moves toward Christmas, you are not making a straight highway of Christ to come. In joyfully anticipating the coming of Christ, we diligently and vigilantly prepare the straight high way of Christ (Isaiah 40:3) as we remove obstacles out of the way by way of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so that we can joyfully go on a highway, called the Highway of Holiness (Isaiah 35:8) as take by Christ upon his arrival. 

As our work on constructing a straight highway of Christ’s coming makes progress toward Christmas during the Advent Season, the more light of hope, peace, joy, and love, will replace the world’s darkness of sins. This is reflected on our lightings of Advent Candles on each Sunday during this season. The increasing light of Advent joy with the progress of making a straight high way of Christ’s coming also means our Advent penance is in progress in light of Acts 26:18.

Once again, Happy New Liturgical Year and Happy Advent!

Moving from One Liturgical Year to Another: Preparing for the Coming of the Messiah-King to the World and to Our Hearts with the state of γρηγορέω and ἀγρυπνέω

As the week of the 34^th Sunday in Ordinary Time on one liturgical cycle ends and another  begins with the First Week of Advent at a stroke of midnight bell tonight, we ponder meaning of this transitional period from one liturgical year to another.

Toward the last week (the 34^th week in Ordinary Time) of an outgoing liturgical cycle, the last three Sunday Gospel readings (Gospel readings for the 32^nd, the 33^rd, and the 34^th Sundays) increasingly reflect upon our needs to be prepared for Christ’s return (Parousia) as the King of the Universe to judge and completely destroy all evils. An important lesson to prepare ourselves to close a liturgical year is to stand ready to meet the Lord upon his return at the eschaton.  We are called to remain vigilant, not doze off, as his return can be like a thief entering into a house (Matthew 24:43; 1Thessalonians 5:2,4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 16:15).  

Christ’s return at the eschaton is like a thief entering into a house in the middle of night? It is rather a hyperbolic expression to warn us not to be off -guard when he returns. This teaching on vigilance toward the time of Parousia is also reflected in Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), as well as his parable of the watchful servants and his explanation of the parable (Luke 12:35-48).

When Peter asked Jesus about the parable of the faithful servants (Luke 12:35-40), “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”(Luke 12:41), Jesus answered:

“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute [the] food allowance at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.

But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”  Luke 12:42-48

Realize from the above words of Jesus that those who fail to be ready to meet Christ in good standing when he returns will be subject to due punishment, whether they knew of his return but failed to act accordingly or they failed due to ignorance.

In fact, the Gospel readings for the 34^th Sunday (Matthew 25:31-46, A; John 18:33-37, B; Luke 23:35-43, C) address failures to see Jesus as the King, who comes to judge. The passages of Matthew 25:31-46 on Cycle A echo Luke 12:42-48, while John 18:33-37 on Cycle B and Luke 23:35-43 on Cycle C remind how our failure to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah King turned into killing him! However, we find a glimmer of hope in the darkness of ignorance as there is one thief, who was crucified along Christ and another criminal, recognized Jesus as God and the Messianic King, repenting and submitting himself to the mercy of God, saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”(Luke 23:42). And Jesus assured him of his salvation saying, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”(Luke 23:43).

When our ignorance about the Messiah King contributed to the killing of him for the crime of being “the King of the Jews”(i.e. John 19:19) about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem, at least there was one person to recognized Jesus as God and the Messiah King, as reflected in the Gospel reading for the 34^th Sunday (Christ the King Sunday) on Cycle C (Luke 23:35-43).  In fact, the way the world reacted to the first coming of this Messiah King, Jesus, to this world has some similarity. The Lucan narrative of the Nativity (Luke 2:1-20) reminds us that the world was totally ignorant about the first coming of the Messiah King, even though his coming had been prophesized in the Old Testament (i.e. Genesis 3:15; Psalm 24:1-10; Isaiah 7:14; Zechariah 9:9; Malachi 4:2). That is why Mary and Joseph could not find a place to welcome Jesus in a decent place but end up in an animal stable in the outskirts of Bethlehem. When Mary the Virgin gave birth to Jesus, the Messiah King, nobody noticed and celebrated, except until the shepherds, who represent marginalized people of the society, were noticed by angel and came to rejoice witnessing the Messiah King in his nativity (Luke 2:15-20). 

In fact, the world really did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah King until after Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist, who had been calling the world to prepare for the public appearance of the Messiah King, citing Isaiah 40:3. It had been at least 30 years since the coming of the Messiah King in his Nativity for the world to gradually notice his presence among us, as said in John 1:14 and 3:16, except for the Magi from the east seemed to have acknowledged Jesus as the King (Matthew 2:1-12) and for Simeon and Ana see him as the long-awaited Messiah (Luke 2:21-38) while he was still a baby.

You see how ignorant we were when our Messiah King was born at his Nativity and at his death and even when he resurrected. He does not want us to be so ignorant when he comes back! That was why we were reminded not to be ignorant but remain vigilant for his return toward the end of the outgoing liturgical year.

Now, we welcome a new liturgical year in and begin the Advent season to prepare for the celebration of the Nativity of the Messiah King. As we prepared for the feast of Christ the King of the Universe on the 34^th Sunday in Ordinary Time of the outgoing liturgical year, we are again reminded to remain vigilant and alert throughout our Advent preparation for the feast of the Nativity of the Lord so that we can welcome the Messiah King into our heart on the feast of his first coming with joy. To kick off into a new liturgical year with First Sunday of Advent, the Gospel readings for the very first Sunday of a liturgical year (Matthew 24:37-44 on A; Mark 13:33-37 on B; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 on C) call us to stay γρηγορέω/gregoreo (vigilant) (Matthew 24:42, 43; 25:13; Mark 13:34, 35, 37)  and ἀγρυπνέω/agrupneo (alert) (Luke 21:36).

We want to close one liturgical year and to welcome another one as we remain γρηγορέω/gregoreo (vigilant) and ἀγρυπνέω/agrupneo (alert). After all, who wants to miss out the coming of our Messiah King out of ignorance or drowsiness?

What bridges an outgoing liturgical year and an incoming new year is our fully vigilant and alert state of mind.

Maranatha! We long to your coming, our Lord, Jesus! We cannot wait to meet you at your adventus! We cannot fall asleep because we do not want to miss the very moment of your glorious adventus, as we stay ready for the Parousia and ready to celebrate your Nativity, when you began to dwell among us!