Third Sunday of Advent,
Gaudete Sunday
Today is called in the
liturgy of the church Gaudete Sunday, coming from the Latin word gaudere which
means rejoice. And the whole feast is
with the third Sunday of Advent, we know that next week, the fourth Sunday of
Advent and then we celebrate the beautiful feast of Christmas, the birthday of
Jesus. But all these readings are trying
to give us that great hope and joy.
Maybe some of us gathered here this morning say, “Well, I don’t feel
really happy. I don’t feel so
joyful. You’re telling me, ‘hey dismiss
all anxiety from my mind and heart. Be
joyful, happy, put on a smiling face and just pretend nothing is wrong’?”
No, you can feel whatever
way you want to feel. But joy is more
than just a feeling. Joy is something
that scriptures will remind us comes from deep down inside our hearts. It really is a way of being. I suppose you could say that. A way of living. But all the readings talk about this joy and
this hope. Part of that background is
that the people are trying to say, “Look, your redemption is at hand. You savior is coming. You have great hope. The hardships, the difficult times are going
to be over. There is cause for
rejoicing.”
So maybe that’s the
tip-off. That in all of our lives, even
though physically we may be in pain or emotionally, even spiritually we feel
kind of dead inside, there is cause for rejoicing because it seems to be part
of our human nature and condition isn’t it?
That in the midst of that pain, the loneliness, the fatigue, the
anxiety, even the depression there is a way somehow for a sense of hope to
shine through the crack. I guess you
could say it that way. Because if all we
do is just surround ourselves with darkness and doom and gloom, well that is
the negative. It is a put-down.
Advent, the whole idea of
the church at this time of the year, Advent, is that in the midst of this
darkness of the year in nature, where the days are shorter, the sun is set by
4:00 and the days of darkness are longer.
The ancients saw that in nature so they had to figure out ways to get
more light into their lives. And then
the early Christians, looking at their pagan neighbors around them said, “Well,
we have the SON, the Son of God, who comes to bring us the gift of eternal
light.” That’s why we light our Advent
candles, trying to overcome that darkness of sin. So again the darkness is still going to be
here, the anxiety, the fears, the anger, the hurt, the pain. Especially at this time of the year I think
of so many. We’ve had so many funeral
lately. And those perhaps of you who
have lost a loved one, the holiday season emotionally can be very draining, and
very lonely. People almost dread having
to go to Thanksgiving dinner without their loved one there. And then to have Christmas, and everybody
wants to be bright and cheery and you have this big gaping hole in your heart
because your loved one physically isn’t with you.
So you need to go deeper,
you go deeper down inside you to find where that loved one still is in your
heart. Physically not with us, but yet
his or her memory, their values, their joys, their love are still very much
with you and inside you. I always tell
people at a funeral that because your loved one has died doesn’t mean you stop
loving them or they stop loving you.
That love still is there and goes on.
There down in the depths the peace of God that surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's what Paul is telling us. That the Lord is near, very near in the
depths of our hearts.
When we have become more
aware of that, that’s part of what to me Advent is all about. I have been trying to take personally in my
own life a little more time to step back when possible from all of the business
too that surrounds me, and just to sit and be quiet. No cell phone, no TV, no computer, and just
to sit and say, “Okay Lord, talk to me.”
That might be a gift you could give yourself over this next week. Just to sit and be as quiet as you can
get. For some of us that’s going to
scare the living daylights out of us.
What do you mean, be alone
and be quiet? I’m not talking about
loneliness, I’m taking about being able to be alone in your heart with the Lord
Jesus. You will find in that silence,
peacefulness and a hope and a joy that no one can take away from you.
All the things that John the
Baptist talked about, preparing the way for the Lord, can come down to three
simple little words; share, care, be fair.
If you’ve got all kinds of good things.
If you’ve got two coats, give one away.
Share our wealth, our goodness.
Many people have brought groceries over the last few weeks. There is still time. You can bring groceries any time during the
week. Bring them into the rectory. Put them at the doors of the church. We’ll make sure they get to Sharing and
Caring Hands or to CEAP. Over these next
two weeks, I already have some requests, but I will be getting more from people
in the parish who are in need of food or assistance. That’s where I will spend a fair amount of my
time over the next two weeks. Trying to
get these items, the donations that you entrust to me to share with those who
are needy.
You said care about other
people. Stop collecting more than what
is prescribed. That we don’t cheat other
people out of our time, our patience, our gentleness. Are you and I willing when someone calls us
up, or someone is in need of just a listening heart? Can you be there for them? Or are you going to say, “I’m too busy.” How much time are we willing to put in with
those in need. It could be someone in
your own family. It could be one of your
college students coming home. It might
be a son or a daughter who will be coming home for the holidays. It might be a neighbor across the street,
somebody in the hospital, somebody who just lost through death a loved
one. Are you willing to care for
them. Let them know you’re thinking
about them, praying for them.
You know the Christmas card
you got this past week from the fellow Redemptorists here. I suppose it would make a nice dart board if
you want to use it for that. But it was
a way of us trying to say to you, “We are thinking about you.” So we dressed up in red and white, we took
the picture. We said we need to send
this out to the people of St. Al’s with the Christmas schedule in there and a
message. Also that you would know that
we, your Redemptorists priests who serve you care about you.
Now if you want to write
Christmas cards, fine, you can do that.
But if you’re going to get bent out of shape, then maybe you don’t do
it. Why get frustrated, “I gotta write
all these cards.” Maybe you only write
five cards this year but those will be some of the most beautiful cards that
you will send to people because your heart will be in it. What a difference.
The final thing I think John
the Baptist said to the soldiers, “Be fair.”
In other words respect those around us.
We all have people in our lives who we consider the jerks. The people we can’t stand. The people who frustrate us. The people we don’t particularly like. And yet we are called to respect them. I have found in my life many times,
especially I find that perhaps my worst side comes out when I’m driving. And maybe at this time of the year you sense
and feel it too. Well I found that
instead of cursing that jerk who almost ran me off the road, and sometimes my
first inclination is that, but then I calm down a little bit and I say, “Okay
God, take care of it. I don’t
particularly like the way they’re driving.
I’m not going to give them the finger.
I’m not going to try to race to catch them and have road rage, but Lord
I entrust them to You. You take care of
them.” That’s fair. So we treat people
with respect even though we don’t particularly like them or care about
them.
Those three very simple
ways, share, care, and be fair, that you and I could practice this week, over
the next two weeks. And maybe by going
outside of ourselves we’ll find too a deep sense of joy and peace and hope down
in our hearts that only God can put there.