Wednesday after Rorate coeli, The Fourth Sunday in Advent

Scripture: Malachi 4:1-6 (NKJV)

1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the Lord of hosts, “that will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. 3 You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” says the Lord of hosts.

4 “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Devotion

Two days from now the Church will celebrate the dawning of the Sun of Righteousness upon our sin-darkened world. American culture, working hand in hand with the false church, does its best to suppress the fact that there is no Christmas without Christ and without the Mass. They want to darken the remembrance of the Sun of Righteousness on this holy day, filling people’s times with all sorts of holiday traditions (which usually detract from Church attendance), secular music void of Christ, and sentimentality. The world does not want to celebrate the rising of the Sun of Righteousness because to the world it will burn like an oven. Rejecting the forerunner of Christ, and Christ Himself, they fear the scorching heat will turn them to stubble.

But for the Christian, the celebration of the rising of the Sun of Righteousness is a glorious dawn. The announcement that Christ is born fills the ears and sinks into the heart, kindling the warmth of faith in the breast. The news, heard every year at this time, cheers the faithful and penitent. If Christ is born, He is born for you. If Christ is born then He has assumed your human flesh and knows every weakness which the devil uses to harass you with temptation. If Christ is born and the Sun of Righteousness rises, the cold darkness of sin dissipates so that the sinner no longer stares into the darkness of his own heart, but looks to the Light of the World Who has come to bring life and immortality to light. Repent of your sins and your sinfulness and enjoy the blessings of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings.

Heavenly Father, grant unto us penitent hearts that we may receive the Christ child in joy and gladness. Amen.