READINGS:
First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
Responsorial Psalm: Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
FOCUS: How are we preparing to celebrate the imminent coming of Christ?
FUNCTION: Celebrate Christ’s imminent coming among us with great rejoicing.
Things are a little different on this Third Sunday of Advent, also known as “Gaudete Sunday.” “Gaudate” is a Latin word that means “rejoice,” and is taken from the entrance antiphon for today’s Mass: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5, 5b). The Latin translation is “Gaudete in Domino semper.”
Today, the liturgical colors also switch from violet to rose. This rose color only gets used on two Sundays of the year: on this Third Sunday of Advent, aka “Gaudete Sunday,” and on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, aka “Laetare Sunday,” another Latin word which also means “rejoice.” In both seasons, the Church celebrates a unique Sunday to rejoice in the nearness of the coming celebrations: during Advent, the coming of Christmas, and during Lent, the coming of Easter. We’re more than half-way through the Advent season, and the Church is rejoicing in the nearness of the coming Christmas season. The time to celebrate the birth of Christ is not yet here, but is very close. And for that reason, we rejoice.
Advent has been a good opportunity for us to make an examination of conscience regarding our spiritual readiness to celebrate the birth of Christ. Do we have our priorities in order? Are we praying like we should? Have we taken the opportunity to receive God’s mercy in the sacrament of Reconciliation? Have we trained our eyes to recognize the ways in which Christ comes to us? Have we spiritually prepared ourselves to celebrate Christmas? These are good questions for us to ask ourselves during the Advent season. We only celebrate Christmas once a year and we want to celebrate such a great occasion by living as we should. And so we have our present Advent season to prepare our hearts so that we might worthily celebrate the birth of Christ.
On this Sunday, we rejoice that Christ is coming soon. But maybe we shouldn’t let up on the Advent examination of conscience too much. The Gospel gives us a great witness and messenger in the person and ministry of Saint John the Baptist. One thing we can appreciate about the Baptist was his powerful witness to Christ: “A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.”
That’s great, but what is testimony, and does it mean to testify? The first thing we might think of is courtroom testimony. TV courtroom dramas like “Law and Order” come to mind. A witness takes the stand, swears an oath, and then answers questions from the prosecution and the defense. Witnesses are put under oath and promise to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” They report on what they personally experienced, their area of expertise, or what they believe about a given person or subject. The whole point of having a witness testify or give their testimony is to bolster the case of either the defense or the prosecution. Witness testimonies are meant add credibility to law cases and help jurors decide either for or against the defendant. And as we know, sometimes it’s the testimony of witnesses that can either make or break the case.
Like a witness in a courtroom, Saint John the Baptist came as a prophet to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus the Christ. He came to testify to Christ the Light, helping people to believe that God’s promised Messiah was coming soon. His goal and mission was to prepare people to believe in Jesus as the Savior who would lead Israel and the whole world to salvation. Saint John the Baptist was a great witness: he testified to Jesus as the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy about the Christ, the Son of David, the King who was to come.
Answering the Pharisees, Saint John the Baptist said, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” There’s one part that really gets me: “…there is one among you whom you do not recognize…” Unfortunately, the Pharisees didn’t recognize the Christ living among them in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Apparently they didn’t think that a lowly babe lying in a manger, the supposed Son of a carpenter, could be designated by God as the world’s Lord and Savior. And so when Jesus began His ministry of preaching and teaching, they were hesitant to believe in Him as God’s promised Messiah.
Saint John the Baptist makes an excellent point. Have we trained our eyes to recognize the presence of Christ among us? Sometimes we see Christ quite clearly with eyes of faith, and sometimes we fail to recognize Him in our midst. Have we been willing to share with others our testimony about Christ the light so that people who do not know Jesus as the Christ might come to faith? Or have we been unwilling to share the good news of His birth among us out of fear or a desire to be “politically correct”?
In the second reading, we heard St. Paul say, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. (…) May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s the best advice and the best prayer that Saint Paul could offer us on this Gaudete Sunday, in which we are urged to rejoice in the nearness of Christ’s coming.
The Lord is coming, and He is very near! This is good news, the kind of news we cannot keep to ourselves! And so we rejoice, we pray, and we continue to prepare our hearts for His coming. And like Saint John the Baptist in the Gospel, we must not be afraid to testify to Christ and to claim our spiritual heritage as Christians, as Catholics.
And likewise, we must not allow the sacred event of Christmas to be made into another secular holiday, devoid of its intrinsic Christian meaning. As the popular saying goes, “Jesus is the reason for the season!” We know that there would be no Christmas without Jesus the Christ, our Lord and our Savior.
We have exactly 14 days of the Advent season left until we celebrate the birth of Christ beginning on Christmas Eve. Are you prepared? Is your heart ready to celebrate the birth of the Savior, the Son of God and Son of Mary? Don’t let this important time of spiritual preparation pass you by. Today, let us rejoice, for the Savior comes!
No comments:
Post a Comment