Motivated by greed and profits, consumerism and a profane secularism, the commercial world each year seems to begin its so-called "Christmas season" earlier and earlier.

On the other hand, we Christians consistently begin our spiritual preparation for Christmas each year on this fourth Sunday before the feast, so that we have a month of preparation through reflection and prayer guided by the Word of God.

Sometimes our critics remark that the early Church took a pagan festival of light and changed it into a celebration of the birth of Christ. Historically, that is of course, accurate, and for us it made, and still makes great theological sense. We believe that Jesus is the light of the world and, as we are serious about following Christ, we take seriously his invitation to let our light shine before the world so that other human beings may be drawn to give glory to God (cf. Mt. 5:16). Our light is, of course, the light of faith, hope and love, which God has bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus. While the world appears to fall more and more into darkness, let us take our vocation to be light even more seriously.