We are now on the Fourth Sunday of Advent. It’s interesting to note that the final day of the entire Advent season, which is always the 24th of December, also happens to be the last of the four Sundays of Advent this year (2017). As such, this Advent is shorter than the other years, with only one day in its last week. Regardless of duration, what’s most important is that as the Advent season closes, the liturgical season of Christmas begins, starting with the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve.
It is my prayer that those of you who have read this 4-part series on my reflection for each Candle on the Advent wreath will remember the lessons that every Sunday of Advent teaches us, and will be inspired to share these messages of love with your family and dear ones.
1. The fourth and final Candle lit on the wreath, purple in color, and referred to as the “Angel’s Candle,” symbolizes Peace. It is inspired by the story in the Bible about how “an angel of the Lord,” which the Catholic Church presumes as Saint Gabriel the Archangel, appeared with “a multitude of the heavenly host” to the shepherds at night watch in the fields and proclaimed,
“Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.”
– Luke 2:14
2. I just want to clarify with you a fact regarding the translation of the Bible verse (Luke 2:14) above. It comes from the Catholic Bible Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA), which says,
“Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.”
In the modern form we use, which is the Catholic New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), its translation has become,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those whom his favor rests.”
However, the secular world has twisted this Bible verse with a misleading message:
“Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace and good will to men.”
I’m going to explain the importance of the correct Biblical verse in My Reflection.
Read my 2017 Reflection on:
First Sunday of Advent: Hope
Second Sunday of Advent: Faith
Third Sunday of Advent: Joy
My Reflection
1. The misleading secular version speaks of God bringing good peace to “all” sorts of men. But as both the traditional and the modern Biblical translations show, God brings peace only to men “of good will,” which refers to those men who have good intentions, plans, and actions toward other men, for such men have the Lord’s favor rest upon them.
In the Gospel, the narrative of The Annunciation invites us to turn our gaze up to our Blessed Mother as the utmost Model of holiness and good will. The Archangel Gabriel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
– Luke 1:30
Indeed, her life was most pleasing to the Lord. The fullness of God’s grace filled the Blessed Virgin Mary with absolute peace in saying “Yes” to God’s plan of salvation and becoming the Mother of God.
2. It’s not that God does not want to give peace to men who are not of good will — Truth is, God has given His Only Begotten Son to all mankind as their Savior. But God has also given man the free will to choose between good and evil. Thus, only men who choose God receive the Peace He brings, while men who turn against God lose their peace.
“Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic “Prince of Peace.” By the blood of his Cross, “in his own person he killed the hostility,” he reconciled men with God and made his Church the sacrament of the unity of the human race and of its union with God. “He is our peace.” He has declared: “Blessed are the peacemakers.””
– Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2305)
3. That is the very reason why the Lord Jesus Christ offered up His life on the Cross, that men, from the fall of Adam and Eve, be reconciled once more with God. Now, Heaven is open for all of us again, and it is up to us to choose to make peace with God, with others and with our own selves.
4. Peace then is a grace resulting from the choice of reconciliation with God, with other people, and with oneself. Just as how we literally say, “make peace with someone whom you hurt,” to make peace with God means to reconcile with God, with whom we have a rift in relationship with whenever we sin. Only then we find true peace.
Peace with God
1. The Catechism states that to make peace with God whom we offended and hurt through our sins, we need to be in unity with the Catholic Church. This means, we have to regularly receive the Body and Blood of Christ through the Sacrament of Holy Communion on all Sundays and holy days of obligation.
2. To remain in state of grace, it is likewise advisable to regularly receive the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation, that is, Confession, with true contrition in our hearts, and a promise to try not to commit the mortal sins again, and to avoid venial sins as well.
Peace with Other People
1. You might think it’s easy to be “at peace” with God- just pray often and go to Confession, that’s it. But if we don’t make peace with other people, how can we say that we are at peace with Him? It is a commandment of God to love others as we love ourselves. That includes loving our enemies.
2. It’s Christmas already. After another whole year, have you already asked forgiveness from those people you’ve hurt and sinned against? We very well know in ourselves when it is us who have caused others pain or sadness. At times we even try to falsely reason for what we did, in denial that we have hurt others. But we know deep within how we have caused them sufferings. Then, if we really want to attain Godly peace in our hearts, minds, and souls, we really must ask forgiveness from those we have hurt, and pray for them.
3. Asking for forgiveness may be hard, but to forgive is probably the hardest of the Church teachings about our neighbor. When a person have wronged us, and he or she does not even apologize and ask for our forgiveness, how can we forget the pain caused to us? God understands the pain you are feeling, as His own Apostles too had offended Him, when they betrayed and left Him during His Passion. Still, we are taught to forgive our enemies. It is not for them that we forgive, but for our own peace. So let us offer up to God the pains and hurts that our enemies have caused us, and ask for the grace of God to be able to forgive. Let God deal with those who’ve wronged us and give the justice we deserve according to His holy will. As we forgive, peace will be in our hearts, minds, and souls, and be able to move on.
Peace with Ourselves
1. When we are already at peace with God and with our neighbor, we also have to make peace with ourselves. We can only achieve it with the grace of God. If we live the Catholic life in good will, and get to know and learn more about Our Most Holy Redeemer, Jesus, that is when His Light will be upon us and let us see ourselves clearly. This means, to attain peace within our own selves, it has to start with an examination of conscience.
2. By examination of conscience, it means that in praying to God, let us ask ourselves: Right now, am I hurting another person without me knowing? Do I treat all people with dignity? Am I living a morally pure life? Do others have anything they can hold against me?
3. There are times when we can be unaware of our faults that block peace in our life. Let us ask God, in our prayer life, to grant us the grace to reveal to us our hidden faults, weaknesses, and hurts that are preventing us to have God’s peace within us.
4. A frequent examination of conscience doesn’t mean that we will be completely sinless, or be free of sin. But to have a clean conscience, there must be honest desire to have a firm resolve in our struggle to avoid sinning. Only then we become able to correct ourselves of our mistakes, and change for the better.
5. Thus, we must be men and women of good will for us to be able to follow the will of the Lord in our lives- to experience God’s peace and also bring peace to those around us. People who stray away from God’s ways are not people of good will. But when we follow all of His Commandments, God’s will becomes our own will, and His grace will guide our lives.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, as we conclude the Advent season, let us remember that God sent His Only Son on the very First Christmas. Even it’s in the long ago past, this gift of salvation is continuously given to us each day by God as we await for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We only need to accept this gift. As we wait for Jesus, each of us must strive to be a man and a woman of good will, with the virtues of Hope, Faith, Joy, so that God’s favor may rest upon us and we may receive the grace of His Peace. This grace will give us the strength against evil and tribulations, and enable us to be instruments for God to accomplish His holy will for the world.
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
Mama Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
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