Day 9, simbang gabi - our commitment to bring Christ into the world

Simbang Gabi, day 9
Gospel: Luke 1:67-79

With the last day of our preparation for Christmas, we realize fruit of the preparation - it is God who is preparing us all along to bring Jesus into the world, into people's hearts, into the workplaces and into communities; into churches and homes - everywhere. What started with God's story of love ended up being our own. Now we are a part of the story of salvation. The buck now falls upon us to proclaim the Christmas message - it is Christ who lives in all of us.

We can still commit ourselves more concretely to the work of salvation. Three things Zechariah prophesied in St. John that we can also fulfill in our lives:

1. "to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins" - in a liturgical way, for people to receive the sacrament of reconciliation and the Eucharist to receive full pardon always and forever;

2. "to give light to those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death" - we are the modern-day Catechists to remove the ignorance from people's minds and bring them to God's light;

3. "to guide our feet into the way of peace" - to live a life of charity and generosity, always making ourselves available, time, talent, and treasure, to help the poor back on their feet and for us to travel on the road to heaven.

These three things are the core 0f Christian life - liturgy, catechesis, and social apostolate. Remove one and Christian life is not complete. But live them out in an integral way and we possess a mature faith enough to make Christ's work of redemption fruitful.

Merry Christmas!