Hodie Scietis

Today, you shall know. Today, you shall see. Today, the Lord will come. Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow you will see His glory. These words of consolation and hope echo throughout the liturgy of this day called the Vigil of the Nativity of the Lord, a day of prayer, a day of fasting, a day during which we must strive to make ourselves ready, in body and soul, for the ineffable gift that will be offered to us during the holy night of Christmas. A beautiful image of our life in the world is thus presented to us. Today, the brief fleeting today, is the ephemeral moment which is given to us now. Tomorrow is the day of eternity, a day on which the Lord Himself shall appear, a day which will last forever. And such a thought, if it gives joy to those who love and follow the Lord, is one which should inspire fear in the hearts of those who care not about Him, those for whom this life is all there is to live for. The Glory of God makes its entrance into our world under the guise of a frail infant, in humility, in purity, in poverty. Jesus comes for all, He is there with outstretched arms. But He does not save all. He saves only those who open themselves to His saving grace and let themselves be transformed by it. He saves only those who are prepared to accept His Gospel and the message it brings, those who are ready to take up their cross and follow Him to Calvary. Let us never forget that the crib leads to the cross and only then to the empty tomb.