I would like to discuss with you the renewal of our faith, perhaps what we might call the ancient faith. At the Advent season we celebrate again the coming of our Lord. I think it is time for us to prepare, as in the initial instance of Christ's coming, for his appearance amongst us today. We are to be the herald or the evangel of the good news, which begins with the announcement of Christ's coming. However, the message of Christ's arrival is always accompanied by a call to repentance. When we go back and study the scriptures of the announcement that was made to Mary, when Mary received the word that she is to bear the Son of God, she proclaims the hymn of praise--the Magnificat--which reads in part:
He has shown strength with His arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has put down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53).
We see that the call for repentance and for radical change within society is interwoven with the proclamation of the coming of the Lord. The political and the social implications of the incarnation are present from the very moment of Christ's conception within Mary.
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