We thank the Lord for preserving our lives to the last month of the year 2023. The month of December is a month of many sentiments: hope, expectation, joy and celebration. During the month we have celebrations such as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the birth of our Lord at Christmas and the Feast of Holy Family of Nazareth. The month is one of retrospection, stock-taking, self-evaluation and thanksgiving to God. The season of Christmas begins with the First Vespers (Evening Prayer) of Christmas on December 24th and ends on the Sunday after Epiphany. Other feast days and memorials in this month are: St. Ambrose (December 7), Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12), St. Lucy (December 13), St. John of the Cross (December 14), St. Stephen (December 26), St. John (December 27), Holy Innocents (December28), St. Thomas Becket (December 29).
…The Season of Advent
The liturgical colour for the Season of Advent, which is purple, paints a spiritual portrait of hope and expectation, of longing and waiting, of conversion and penance in preparation for Christmas. Advent is the beginning of a new Liturgical Year and can be seen as another opportunity to renew ourselves spiritually. It is a season of eager longing for the Messiah who is to come. We sing the song “O Come, O come, Emmanuel” to express the eager longing and hope for the coming of our messiah who came to us first as a child in the manger and who has promised to come again. Let us therefore avail ourselves of the opportunity that Advent provides to renew our relationship with God: do penance, works of charity and carry out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy so that we can reap the fruits of the Lord’s coming both at Christmas and at the end of time.
• Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos
