America’s founding fathers believed that the “pursuit of happiness” was an inalienable right, and most people today certainly think that they deserve to be happy. But what happens when we face unhappiness? How does God’s word comfort us then?
Emmanuel is very much God with us today. He comes to us graciously through His Word, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
As important as Christmas may be, it is not the birth of Christ that unites mankind in faith; it is His holy death, His resurrection and His promised return.
Christ Jesus–God enfleshed in our nature–continues to fulfill God’s promise to our fallen race.
This joy is more than a good and fuzzy feeling in our hearts; it is the certainty that has unlocked and loosened us from our sins that bound us.
Even as we ask for the Lord Christ’s deliverance of each of us from every evil of body and soul, we look ahead with joy and gladness, living in hope in Christ.
We prepare in Advent to celebrate the coming of our Lord and to worship Him, the one who saves us from our sins because we could not keep the Law.
We look beyond Christmas and wait for our Lord’s coming again to raise us to life, body and soul, and the Church prays, “O Wisdom . . . Come!”
The O Antiphons can continue to teach, enlighten and comfort the Church today.