As we approach Christmas, we contact our loved ones, good friends and acquaintances, we send greetings cards or we visit them. We send them our festive wishes or gifts. It is love and appreciation for them that makes us do so. 

According to the custom of the Jews at that time, being engaged gave the right to live like in marriage. St. Joseph was away from Nazareth for a long time at the time of the greeting of the angel, his bride was still in her parents' house. When she answered to the angel, the Word was incarnate in her immaculate heart, to be born nine months later in Bethlehem. 

The bodily birth of the Lord Jesus proves that the incarnation is real, that the Lord Jesus is true God and true man, and that salvation is a fundamental teaching of our faith.

Advent latern - 2021 The thoughts of Dr. Jakubinyi György Archbishop Emeritus 

When our desires are not fulfilled, when it seems that God does not listen to our prayers, let us remember that the Lord Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah who has redeemed the world and will grant all our requests that are for the good of our souls, not as we would like, but as he sees fit for our own good!

For us, the lesson is that it is not enough to make baptismal vows and promises, but those promises must be fulfilled! St. John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, reformer and Doctor of the Carmelite Order, did the same when reforming their religious order: they returned to the original promise without any alleviation.  

For us the answer is obvious: the Lord Jesus is true God and true man, the incarnate second divine person, the Son who redeemed the world. This is our faith, and it is for this faith that the martyrs, like Saint Lucia, the virgin of Syracuse, sacrificed their life.

Since we are living in a salvific and eternal Advent, we await the glorious second coming of our Lord Jesus at the end of the world.

Advent latern - 2021 Saturday 11 December 2021 The thoughts of Dr. Kerekes László auxiliary bishop

It is in the middle of our lives that we realise our parents and close friends have always had our best interests at heart. This comforting message reaches the chosen people when God repeats it through the prophets. In our quiet Advent waiting we are also reassured that God is teaching us. At the same time, we see how we sometimes find so many excuses, we are so full of ulterior motives and intentions, why we are "not moved" by the word of God. If we pay attention to the goodness of God, we become better people.

It is so easy to be overcome by fear every day, even though we know for sure that God is our caring, good Father. Now, in the Advent season, we turn to God, and it is good to hear his comforting message, "Do not be afraid." Fear is the measure of our distance from God: the further we are from him, the more we fear. As we draw nearer to him, we are filled with peace.  

Advent latern - 2021 Wednesday, December 8, 2021 The thoughts of Dr. Kerekes László auxiliary bishop

There is no lost life, no lost person, that our good shepherd Jesus will not go after and rejoice over, more than of those who have not gone astray. Most of the time we count ourselves among the 99 true, and less often we identify with the lost one. Moreover, we fail to understand the logic of Jesus when he goes after the lost one. Yet we are the ones who walk far from him, our thoughts, words, actions, faithless lives is far from Jesus. And yet He seeks us, finds us and rejoices over us.

We Christians often suffer from the paralysis of not living our faith in its fullness, of being Christians only in a timid, superficial, ad hoc way, only in the sacristy. If we recognise this, if we want to be healed from this sickness, from this sin, we need God's grace, God's healing. The paralytic took up his bed and went home praising God. This miraculous thing happens to us today if we come to God.

The second Sunday of Advent calls us to prepare the way. The promise is that "every man shall see the salvation of God". One condition has to be fulfilled in order to see the salvation: to prepare a straight path and a smooth way toward God. We fill up the valleys of our failings and carry away the heaps of our sins whenever in our daily decisions we chose love. In this difficult, depressing preparation it is an inspiring, certain fact for us that God works together with us, because he wants us so much to return to Him.

How good it is to be assured that God is close to us, reveals himself to us, gives us the gift of his inner life (which is love). Prophet Isaiah reminds us this Advent time that the Lord binds up the wounds of his people. And when God appears, his heart falls on people (on us) and he heals all our sicknesses and all our troubles. Then he sends us: 'go and preach'. Let us also be healing people, binding up the wounds of others.

In certain situations of our lives it is a great experience to be able to read between the lines, to hear the meaning of the words, to see what lies beneath the surface. These are moments of grace, gifts from God, of which the prophet Isaiah says: "in that day..." when the Saviour comes, who opens the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

One of the challenges of our Advent season is to seek and to do the will of God, where ever we are, according to our condition and situation. We must do this with our whole heart, with great love for God, not only in words but also in deeds. Turning the teaching of Jesus into deeds gives the rock foundation of our lives. It will outlive any storm because it is built on a solid foundation.