“The Lord is at hand.” Of course, He is not “at hand” so that we can use Him. And He is not at our side as someone we can occasionally use for help when we can no longer do it ourselves. The fact that the Lord is at hand actually means that our entire life is in His hands. From Him comes everything we are and everything we need to live.

What are the mysteries of God of which Saint Paul calls himself the steward? First of all, it is the message about Jesus Christ, and about Him as the Crucified. Christ’s death on the cross of Calvary and His resurrection from the dead are, on the one hand, a truth revealed to us all, but on the other hand, it is a mystery – the mystery of God’s love, grace, mercy, and His often incomprehensible wisdom.

All Scripture proclaims Christ. This is the fundamental principle upon which the apostles and Christ himself interpreted the Scriptures. This principle is the basis of the Church’s teaching about God and our faith in Him, about sin and redemption, about the present age and eternity.

This is exactly what Saint Paul says in today's Epistle: “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” Our hope is in Christ Jesus, who is the root of Jesse foretold by the prophet Isaiah and has brought salvation to both Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility, says the Collect for the First Sunday in Advent. He came because of love, and love is what He expects from us. Saint Paul writes: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”

Love cannot be measured, because if it could be measured, it wouldn’t be love. This is not easy: loving our neighbor as ourselves requires more of us than we are usually capable of. Even in small things, it is not always easy for us to consider our neighbor as our equal, let alone to step aside and put him before ourselves.

The last Sunday of the Church Year directs our eyes to the soon-to-beginning Advent season, which is not merely a time of preparation for Christmas, but has fundamental significance in terms of our past, present, and future.

Advent speaks of the coming of the Lord – two thousand years ago through the incarnation of the Son of God, as well as at the end of time when He returns in His glory and power, and also of His coming to us and into us again and again through His Holy Word and the Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of His Most Holy Body and Blood.