There was a story of a man who was deeply devoted to St Joseph and when he died he was at the gates of heaven and being interviewed by St Peter.

The tone of today’s celebration is that of great joy. The entrance antiphon for today’s Mass says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.

An ancient Chinese proverb advises,’ it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’!

Well here we are at the beginning of a new Church year in the wonderful season of Advent – those precious few weeks of reflection and preparation of heart and mind, before the great feast of Christmas.

I love it that, at this time of year, when the world is telling us to hurry up and get through the list of things to be done before Christmas – shopping, food preparation, social events – the Church is telling us to slow down, reflect, wait, repent. What a breath of fresh air that counter-cultural message is.

The season of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the year pre-dates the establishment of the date for the birth of Jesus on December 25th.

“How many visitors will be coming for Christmas?” This is usually our first concern for Christmas Day. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, today we enter into another dimension of our joyful waiting in this Advent season. 

“Isis beheads Christians!”, “Chaos in Paris”, “Bush fires engulfs houses”! Whenever we hear these headlines, it brings chills down our spines,

The beginning of Advent always comes as a bit of a shock in this increasingly busy world we live in. Just as everything seems to get busier in the countdown to Christmas, the Church asks us to slow down, to reflect, to prepare.

This year, as the world reels from recent terror attacks, we have more cause than usual to engage in some serious Advent reflection and to earnestly await the arrival of the Prince of Peace.