The Advent season is to savour the loving promise of God to us. The promising words of St Paul, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.” and the Psalms raise our hope to God. Though our enthusiastic days are depleted by horrific disasters around us, the Church raises hope that God is ever at work in His promise. The prophet Jeremiah speaks of God’s promise to the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Those ancient promises, however, were expressions of the one promise that God fulfilled for us: He sent us a Saviour to restore integrity and honesty.

With all integrity, Jesus forewarned us, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and the worries of this life.” Jesus also reminds us that His abiding promise must be our focus. Indeed, a promise cannot be coerced upon but must be freely given and accepted. God’s promises were given gratuitously. We receive them with open hands and appreciate them with our lives. The world challenges us to showcase the kind of life we are meant to live, albeit in troubled situations. We live by the creed we professs, so to love and be faithful as Jesus did. We live our hope in deeds.