Third Sunday of Advent
Lectionary: 8
Reading 1
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God.
I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (Is 61:10b) My soul rejoices in my God.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
R. My
soul rejoices in my God.
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
R. My
soul rejoices in my God.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
R. My
soul rejoices in my God.
Reading 2
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.
In all circumstances give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophetic utterances.
Test everything; retain what is good.
Refrain from every kind of evil.
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.
The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will also accomplish it.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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.
And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests
and Levites to him
to ask him, “Who are you?”
He admitted and did not deny it,
but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him,
“What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him,
“Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘make straight the way of the Lord,’”
as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
“Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them,
“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.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Today is the Third Sunday of Advent. It is on this day that the rose candle on the Advent Wreath is lit and we are encouraged to contemplate joy and what it means in relation to our relationship with Jesus Christ; how He can bring joy into our lives and how he has the capability to have us experience indescribable joy by us entering into a relationship with Him. This Sunday is also referred to as, “Gaudete Sunday,” meaning REJOICE. This is taken from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians where he implores them to, “ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.” This is reemphasized in his Letter to the Thessalonians where the theme continues: “Rejoice always.” This day has its roots in the traditions of the Church when Advent was originally a 40 Day season and had many aspects in common with the Season of Lent: penance, reflection, and sacrifice. Gaudete Sunday was sort of a midway point through the season reminding us Christians that we are a people of joy and that, even in our suffering state, we should be joyous in the knowledge that Christ was near, His coming was imminent, and that soon we would be lifted up into a period of celebration with the Christmas Season.
Joy remains the central theme on this Sunday. It is much more than just a feeling. It is a state of being which can be achieved through a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ. We are encouraged toreact to His presence in our lives. Keeping Jesus Christ central in all of our thoughts and actions opens a pathway directly to the Father and clears away all of the obstacles that this world has created which prevents us from fully experiencing God. Much of our lives can be spent in conflict; fighting these things which blur our relationship with God and making Him less accessible. By focusing on Jesus and strengthening our relationship with Him through prayer, worship, and living by the precepts of our faith we can push out the bad and let the good flood in; that which comes from God. When we do this we then are able to experience true joy.
God has the power to make everything right. In any circumstance that we find ourselves in joy can be experienced if we walk with Him. He can give us the direction and the strength that we need in times of trial if we just let Him do the work within us that is necessary. He has the power to overcome all things. We do not have this power and we were not created by Him to live our lives separate from Him. As long as we do not turn away from Him or ignore Him all things can be overcome. It was through Jesus Christ that even death was conquered so why would it ever be thought that we could not be guided through our own trials if we only ask for His help? God is our Father, Christ is our advocate, and the Holy Spirit is the paraclete. Acknowledging this brings about a new way of living and a new way of understanding the world around us; an understanding that brings us in line with God. That is where we can experience joy.
Being guided by our relationship with God will allow us to make proper decisions in our lives and everything will be made better as a result. Proper discernment of what is good and bad will aid us in a constant improvement of our lives. This may be challenging at times, especially when we are confronted with a decision that may prevent us from feeding our earthly desires in the short-term, but through repetition and prayer it will become easier; especially when the long-term results outweigh any short-term stimulation we may experienced if we chose wrongly. We find this in Paul’s instruction to the Thessalonians:
“Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophetic utterances.
Test everything; retain what is good.
Refrain from every kind of evil.
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.”
It is through this process that we are naturally made holy. It is through holiness that joy is encountered. And where there is joy there is God.
Just as John the Baptist proclaimed the Coming of Jesus Christ and time of repentance we all should be in a constant state of preparation and focused on that day when we will meet Jesus Christ. This will happen either when we die or sometime during our earthly existence. Either way, we will meet Him and will be united with him forever. Knowing this should be comforting to us and should encourage us further to engage with Him now. What Jesus promises can be experienced now by embracing that promise and living it out through our thoughts, actions, and our spirituality. This is what is meant when Paul tells out to step out of the darkness and into the light. We are Children of the Light and the Light is Jesus Christ. There is joy in the light. That joy is found when we believe it and accept it.
Deacon Tom
My Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The Prophet Isaiah gives us the theme for reflection today: “In my God is the
joy of my soul.” When that is true in our lives, we are walking the road and we
know the truth of these words from the same Prophet: “He has sent me to bring
glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the
Lord and a day of vindication by our God.”
This great Prophet Isaiah believed with his whole being that God would send salvation and redemption for His people. Each one of us can have that same trust and confidence in God: God loves us and will bring us salvation. God invites us to live according to His laws and His wisdom—let us walk the way of the Lord!
This is the 3rd Sunday of Advent and called “Gaudete” Sunday in Latin. It is a Sunday of rejoicing. The entrance song for some centuries was always from the Letter to the Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say, rejoice!
The second reading this Sunday picks up the theme of rejoicing: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.” We need to hear both of these realities: rejoice and pray! We can only rejoice always if we are praying without ceasing. God is not asking the impossible of us. We are able to walk through a normal day while keeping Him always in our heart. It is not easy and we shall fail but when we see that God is not in our heart, we can invite Him once more to make us aware of His presence. In that way, we can rejoice and pray all the day long.
The Gospel from Saint John today brings us back to Saint John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a central focus of the Gospel last Sunday and once again is here for us to consider. We should note that John the Baptist is not at all concerned about being considered great or important. His one concern is to point to Jesus Christ: the One who is to come, whose sandal strap he is unworthy to untie.
Saint John the Baptist is a saint of joy because he points always to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We also can become people of joy when our lives point to Jesus our Lord. We don’t have to be perfect but we do have to keep pointing to the Lord. Just as in the life of John the Baptist, the more we decrease, the more the Lord may increase. It is a challenge for us to live in such a way that we are always witness to the presence of God and God’s love.
The Offertory in the Latin Mass is clear: “Lord, you have blessed your land. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people.” It is because God loves us and forgives us that we can rejoice and be glad. It is because Jesus invites us to live His life that our lives can be witnesses to Him. Let us rejoice and be glad this Sunday as we delight in God’s love.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
The Church’s Old Testament “prophet of choice” for the Advent season is Isaiah, from the 8th century before Christ. And the choice of Isaiah is obvious. The Prophet Isaiah consistently announced the mission he had received from God, to proclaim the good news of liberation for God’s people. “The Spirit of the Lord” rested upon the prophet, we are told, indicating that God’s power had been given to the prophet to direct and strengthen him as God’s spokesman. The Advent message is likewise centered on liberation of the human race by the coming of Jesus Christ.
Speaking in the name of and with the authority of the Covenant-God who always remains faithful is an awesome responsibility. Even so, Isaiah rose to the occasion and referred to as being anointed, a term that throughout the Bible means possessing a very specific mission for the good of God’s people.
Another way to express the notion of anointing, which may or may not include a ritual action with oil, means to be chosen, dedicated and appointed, by God. In the Old Testament, the Prophet Isaiah was entrusted with a divine mission. Christians often think of the same word “anointed” in relation to Jesus Christ, God’s Anointed, as the Redeemer of the human race.
Advent is the time of year when we are encouraged to contemplate the mystery of our salvation, found in no one else than the Lord of Lord and King of Kings, Jesus Christ. In the synagogue of Nazareth, as Jesus began his public ministry, he read aloud and commented on the same text of Isaiah that we hear this Sunday, regarding being anointed by God and announcing a very specific message: good tidings to those estranged from God, intended for all who “labor and are heavy burdened,” who can find rest in God alone.
Looking at the second Scripture reading for Mass this Sunday, and flowing from what has been said above, we hear Saint Paul advising the Thessalonians with three main points: always be joyful, never stop praying and be thankful in every circumstance of life. These essential attitudes need to be cultivated at all times, in order to replace the human tendencies toward preoccupation, anxiety and laziness. It is God’s grace which enables believers, and each of us, to live up to the call we have been given, in such a manner that, as Saint Paul expresses it, we may be found “blameless at the coming of the Lord.”
The Gospel text for this Sunday contains two sections. The first is devoted to an introduction to the mission of the last of the prophets, Saint John the Baptist, and the second section is concerned with how John the Baptist witnesses to Christ, the Anointed Messiah.
We are told in the Gospel that John the Baptist was a man sent by God, entrusted with a mission like the prophets of old. The life of John and all the divine messengers is characterized by an absolute dedication to the mission they have been given. Their own person disappears behind the One who sent them. In the words of John the Baptist: “He (Jesus) must increase and I must decrease.
The Baptist completed the cycle begun by the prophet Elijah. Just as Elijah announced the arrival of God’s kingdom, John the Baptist was the first to proclaim God’s promise of the Redeemer Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew name John the Baptist, Jo-hanan, means “God is merciful.” Out of love and mercy God raised up an envoy, John, for a world indifferent and even hostile to the message of salvation. Jesus faced the same in his public ministry. John’s mission was to “prepare the way of the Lord,” which in fact cost John his life. Jesus met the same rejection as well.
In today’s Gospel passage, John is discussing with a group of Pharisees and assures them he is not the Messiah, the Christ. Nonetheless, John was baptizing people in the Jordan River. This is part of the process of preparing for the One already in their midst, Jesus, who would be baptizing in the Holy Spirit, but not yet recognized by the Pharisees and others.
The portrait of John the Baptist in the Gospels is of a prophet completely conscious of the true nature of his vocation, as a forerunner, one who goes ahead, sent to prepare the way, but as a servant, not as the master. John sees himself as ready and willing for the lowest menial service. “I am not worthy to unfasten the sandal of the Master,” he says. The one desire of the Baptist was to prepare hearts for the coming of the Messiah, principally by their fasting and repentance. John points all those who hear him to follow the One Leader, Jesus, not John.
The third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday, coming from the Latin words, “everyone rejoice!,” which are the opening words of the Entrance Antiphon at Mass this Sunday. Advent is half way over and there is a theme this day of not being discouraged or afraid, even amidst setbacks, including the current world crisis.
Everyone needs to know that our God will surely come to save us. Even if discouraged along the way, we strive never to give up on the one true God, who never leaves his flock unattended. We greatly and gladly rejoice, for our salvation is near at hand. As baptized and committed believers we never finish growing. It is a life-long process, but we never do it alone. For this we give thanks and bow before the Majesty of God.
Abbot Christian Leisy, OSB
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