3rd Sunday in Advent
VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls us to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to become a missionary disciple....
Homily MP3 version - PDF version
What are the offerings that we bring to God? What is the meaning of "HOSANNAH!" We acclaim God for his greatness and praise Him, while at the same time calling upon Him to rescue us in our distress.... "HOSANNAH!" MP3 version
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”
Sisters! Brothers! Again, good evening. Have you ever thrown one spaghetti strand to the ceiling or wall in your kitchen to see whether it was done? They say that if it sticks; then, it’s ready. I may have tried that in my youth, but I didn’t like it; rather, I learned to bite into it and in this way, I developed a conviction about the precise moment when the pasta is “al dente”, which means, literally, “to the tooth”; that is, cooked but still firm, not soggy. There is no better conviction than that which comes through our own personal experience. This is the great lesson of life that we all come to learn as we journey through our youth towards adulthood.
For many centuries now, Christians – especially in the Western and Eastern traditions – rejoice on this day, the 3rd Sunday in Advent, realizing that “the Lord is near”. Are we able to rejoice, simply on hearing someone say to us: “Rejoice!”? Anyone can, with effort, put on a happy face, but that is not the same as joy. In a similar way, nothing and no one can make us happy. Happiness is a wild thing that unpredictably drops in, unannounced, perhaps when certain conditions are right. Joy, on the other hand, is a gift from God, a heavenly attitude.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”
Have you noticed recently any of God’s wondrous miracles? Don’t be too quick to say no. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” These things happened too often to count during the 3 short years Jesus walked this Earth. Then, before his Ascension into Heaven, Jesus commissioned his disciples to “go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and to observe all that I have taught you.” Jesus assured them, and us, that He would manifest his power and glory through us and confirm the truth of our words with his deeds of power.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”
If we haven’t seen manifestations of Jesus’ power to transform hard hearts, to reconcile enemies, to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute, or to make the lame walk; it is perhaps because we have not dared to ask, we have not risked making fools of ourselves by offering to pray with others, to gently lay hands on them in prayer.
Another possibility is
that we have prayed in faith for others, but our eyes have been blind and our
ears closed to notice the Lord acting with power in the lives of those for whom
we have prayed. We pray, then walk away; we stop paying attention. Well, maybe
it’s time to wake up!
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”
“But Father, you’re a priest; we’re only lay people. We don’t have Holy Orders!” Ah, yes, but Jesus ordained only the 12 Apostles. All the other disciples were lay people. Jesus sent all of them, as he sends all of us, all of you, to go out and make disciples by telling people about Jesus, offering to pray with them, and calling on the Lord to show them that He is real.
People say: “I don’t need Confession. I confess my sins to God directly.” Wonderful! Do this often, but you also need to be reconciled. We are all connected in Christ. Every sin I do affects everyone. Every act of love, courage, service, or generosity that I fail to do darkens the sky over us all. Jesus is our Head. Jesus alone can restore our unity and peace, our solidarity in love, and our joy in the Father’s love. Jesus has chosen to offer this reconciliation through the ministry of his priests. When I offend the whole Body of Christ and God; only God’s chosen envoy can bring me back through reconciliation into the communion of the Most Holy Trinity.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”
Jesus came for sinners. He wants to shine the Light of his truth to dispel the darkness deep within us. His Light is gentle, a divine Fire which burns away all that is sinful, bitter, impure, untrue, false, to make room for the love, peace, goodness, truth, and beauty which are in the Most Holy Trinity. One of the fruits God gives in a good Confession is heavenly JOY!
In a few moments, it will be time to place at the altar our offering to God. It is ourselves that we offer: all that we carry within us, our hopes and our fears, our desires and our regrets, and even our sins and our repentance. Let us open wide our spirit to God; so that He may do in us all that He desires to do: to forgive, to heal, and to give life.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”
“Mary Queen of Peace, pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us. St. Brother André, pray for us. St. Kateri, pray for us. All you holy women and men, pray for us. O my Jesus, I trust in You! Thank You; You who are God, the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
In silence now, the Holy Spirit continues to fill us with
the blazing Light of God.
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