THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Cycle “B”Is 61, 1-2, 10-11. Thes 5, 16 - 24.
John 1, 6 - 8, 19 - 28
INTRODUCTION:
Today is the traditional mid-Advent “Gaudete” Sunday. The keyword is no longer “Watch it! But “Cheer up!” For what awaits us is as welcome as a luxurious massage with body oil after (or before) a bath, says the Book of Isaiah. It is as unexpected as news that cheers the broken-hearted. It is as surprising as a release from prison. It is as exciting as putting on wedding clothes. It is as miraculous as the growth of the fresh flowers of the season.
THE HOMILY:
Here is a little story about a brief encounter between two people in a shopping mall. At an air-conditioned shopping centre, a distinguished looking grey-haired man and a pretty young woman arrived at the door at the same time. The man spontaneously reached out for the handle and held the door open for her. The young woman was probably an active feminist. She said, “Don’t hold the door for me just because I’m a lady.” The man was taken aback. After a moment’s silence, he said, “Oh, well, then; I didn’t open the door because you are a lady. I opened it because I’m a gentleman.”
In today’s Gospel, we see John, the courteous gentle-man, holding the door open to allow Christ to take centre stage and come into our lives. Today’s Gospel presents him as a witness, not as baptiser. John refuses all other identities: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah. He is content to be the doorman, in fact, the doormat for Jesus. And when the Messiah arrives, he walks away into the shadows of history, taking his teaching along with him.
To our world God may be the “unknown one” but he is, as John the Baptist saw, still there standing amongst us. With John we are called to be the witnesses to this unknown one. “Who are you?” they asked. And the Baptist seems clearer about what he is not than about what he is: content to be a voice crying in the wilderness. Our society increasingly asks what the Church really is. Who are you - what role does this strange organisation play in our pluralist world? As Catholics we would like to claim some status or pedestal from which to pass judgement on this God-denying world. But we are content to be, with the Baptist, a voice crying in the wilderness. And what is our slogan? It is “Gaudete”, i.e. “Rejoice; in your midst stands the one who brings freedom, joy and the binding up of broken hearts.
During this Advent and Christmas season, God is constantly saying to us: “Don’t be afraid, I’m here. Your prayers have been answered.”
And perhaps we need this assurance more than we realise. Human beings have an enormous capacity for putting things off. We tend to write off the present situation as unsuitable or inconvenient, and we keep looking forward to some ideal future when things will run smoothly and easily. St. Augustine said it all when he prayed, “Lord, make me virtuous, but not yet.”
We are taught to look forward to a future heaven, and so we treat this present life as if it were a kind of hell, or at best a purgatory. We find our lives disorganised and full of makeshifts, and imagine a fond future when everything will be in the right order, and our lives full of peace and beauty. We complain of the difficulty of practising charity, or compassion, or hope in the pre-sent circumstances, and we sit waiting for the situation to get better, when we think these virtues will come automatically.
It is an attitude to which we are particularly prone when the Church is undergoing change, when we are even more liable to dismiss the present as a makeshift, and wait for the final set of changes. Then, we think, we shall be able to settle down again. Then, we imagine, we shall find everything geared for salvation.
We won’t. The Kingdom is now. Salvation is in the present. It is here and now that we have to settle down to what God has given us. For some, this may be disturbing news. But God assures us during this season that it is in fact good news. What he is saying to us over these days is: “When I had given you my Son, I had given you all I have. Lift up your eyes and see that your redemption is now. What else are you waiting for?”
And this is also our evangelising mission. India is a land where the Spirit has been operative for millennia as can be seen from the many religions that have flourished and still flourish here. Our Christian contribution will be to translate this vertical action of the Spirit into a horizontal action by building up communities of service and sharing. The Holy Father has invited us to build up a civilisation of love as against the culture of death. There is and will be increasing opposition to our work, but does the sun shut off its rays because clouds block it, or the tree refuse its shade to the one who even mutilates it, or the rose suppress its fragrance because no one is interested to savour it ? We are more than the sun, the tree and the rose.
PRAYER: A Morning in Advent
As the new day dawns,
we rejoice in the first glimmers of light
which remind us of your coming, O Christ.
We give thanks
that your light has overcome all our darkness;
may we share in the mystery of your presence in the world,
and be always ready to live each day for you.
Cycle “B”Is 61, 1-2, 10-11. Thes 5, 16 - 24.
John 1, 6 - 8, 19 - 28
INTRODUCTION:
Today is the traditional mid-Advent “Gaudete” Sunday. The keyword is no longer “Watch it! But “Cheer up!” For what awaits us is as welcome as a luxurious massage with body oil after (or before) a bath, says the Book of Isaiah. It is as unexpected as news that cheers the broken-hearted. It is as surprising as a release from prison. It is as exciting as putting on wedding clothes. It is as miraculous as the growth of the fresh flowers of the season.
THE HOMILY:
Here is a little story about a brief encounter between two people in a shopping mall. At an air-conditioned shopping centre, a distinguished looking grey-haired man and a pretty young woman arrived at the door at the same time. The man spontaneously reached out for the handle and held the door open for her. The young woman was probably an active feminist. She said, “Don’t hold the door for me just because I’m a lady.” The man was taken aback. After a moment’s silence, he said, “Oh, well, then; I didn’t open the door because you are a lady. I opened it because I’m a gentleman.”
In today’s Gospel, we see John, the courteous gentle-man, holding the door open to allow Christ to take centre stage and come into our lives. Today’s Gospel presents him as a witness, not as baptiser. John refuses all other identities: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah. He is content to be the doorman, in fact, the doormat for Jesus. And when the Messiah arrives, he walks away into the shadows of history, taking his teaching along with him.
To our world God may be the “unknown one” but he is, as John the Baptist saw, still there standing amongst us. With John we are called to be the witnesses to this unknown one. “Who are you?” they asked. And the Baptist seems clearer about what he is not than about what he is: content to be a voice crying in the wilderness. Our society increasingly asks what the Church really is. Who are you - what role does this strange organisation play in our pluralist world? As Catholics we would like to claim some status or pedestal from which to pass judgement on this God-denying world. But we are content to be, with the Baptist, a voice crying in the wilderness. And what is our slogan? It is “Gaudete”, i.e. “Rejoice; in your midst stands the one who brings freedom, joy and the binding up of broken hearts.
During this Advent and Christmas season, God is constantly saying to us: “Don’t be afraid, I’m here. Your prayers have been answered.”
And perhaps we need this assurance more than we realise. Human beings have an enormous capacity for putting things off. We tend to write off the present situation as unsuitable or inconvenient, and we keep looking forward to some ideal future when things will run smoothly and easily. St. Augustine said it all when he prayed, “Lord, make me virtuous, but not yet.”
We are taught to look forward to a future heaven, and so we treat this present life as if it were a kind of hell, or at best a purgatory. We find our lives disorganised and full of makeshifts, and imagine a fond future when everything will be in the right order, and our lives full of peace and beauty. We complain of the difficulty of practising charity, or compassion, or hope in the pre-sent circumstances, and we sit waiting for the situation to get better, when we think these virtues will come automatically.
It is an attitude to which we are particularly prone when the Church is undergoing change, when we are even more liable to dismiss the present as a makeshift, and wait for the final set of changes. Then, we think, we shall be able to settle down again. Then, we imagine, we shall find everything geared for salvation.
We won’t. The Kingdom is now. Salvation is in the present. It is here and now that we have to settle down to what God has given us. For some, this may be disturbing news. But God assures us during this season that it is in fact good news. What he is saying to us over these days is: “When I had given you my Son, I had given you all I have. Lift up your eyes and see that your redemption is now. What else are you waiting for?”
And this is also our evangelising mission. India is a land where the Spirit has been operative for millennia as can be seen from the many religions that have flourished and still flourish here. Our Christian contribution will be to translate this vertical action of the Spirit into a horizontal action by building up communities of service and sharing. The Holy Father has invited us to build up a civilisation of love as against the culture of death. There is and will be increasing opposition to our work, but does the sun shut off its rays because clouds block it, or the tree refuse its shade to the one who even mutilates it, or the rose suppress its fragrance because no one is interested to savour it ? We are more than the sun, the tree and the rose.
PRAYER: A Morning in Advent
As the new day dawns,
we rejoice in the first glimmers of light
which remind us of your coming, O Christ.
We give thanks
that your light has overcome all our darkness;
may we share in the mystery of your presence in the world,
and be always ready to live each day for you.
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