Advent is a season of light. It is a time in which the light of Christ shines forth into our lives and onto our world, and we receive a great gift: ‘to us a child is born, to us a Son is given.‘ In John’s Gospel, Christ says of himself: ‘I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.‘
Advent literally means ‘coming’ and the Church has always sought to remind us during this holy season of the three comings of Christ: his first at his birth, his second at his return to earth in glory, and his third when he comes into each of our lives. The work of the Spirit in our lives is twofold: he compels us to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father, and he also moves us to pray with heartfelt longing, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, come.’
Jesus is the meaning of Christmas. He is the meaning of human existence. The baby born in the stable, in poverty and helplessness as God made man, is our light and hope. We lift up our hearts in praise and thanksgiving for Jesus who is the Light of the World, the light which darkness could not extinguish or overcome.