 Advent 2012 Even to those who do not proclaim
or practice the Christian faith it seems that the times in which we live continue to grow darker. In a
year that has, once again, been marked by economic turmoil, acts of terror, devastating natural disasters and a turning from
the Christian ethic it can be hard to keep one’s faith that there is a light of hope. I am sure that
the generation into which Christ was born felt much the same way. They too were faced with national degradation,
oppression and economic woes. Yet it is into this kind of darkness that the light came as Christ was born
in Bethlehem. And it is in this kind of darkness that our hope for His return is revived. It is not the darkness of the times
that is our greatest problem. It is when we allow the darkness to overshadow the light of hope that our
faith brings that we feel overwhelmed. The facts of our world may be bad, but as always, God’s truth
is greater than the world’s facts. The fact is God the Son did come into our world as a baby and
has changed everything. If we will arm ourselves with faith in what He did through His life, death, burial
and resurrection; there is no darkness so great that can overpower that fact. It is in that light that
we continue to stand, hope and wait until He comes again in glory. And, as surely as He came the first
time, He will come again. Beloved, do not let the works of darkness overtake your soul. In the words of a child’s
song determine that “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” As the Collect
for the first Sunday of Advent states: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness,
and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great
humility; that in the last day, when He shall come again in His glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we
may rise to the life immortal; through Him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen Blessings, Fr. David A. Barrett
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