Homily: 3rd Sunday of Advent – Cycle B
Gaudete! Today the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete”,
because it is the Latin word for “Rejoice” and it happens to be the very first
word that the Church proclaims in the Mass today. The Mass, as it is written in Latin, begins
with the Introit, or “Entrance Antiphon”,
which is a short verse taken from the Bible that is said or sung (preferably
sung). The Church allows us to
substitute a hymn for the antiphon and so we almost never hear it during Sunday
Mass (a hymn with which everyone is familiar makes it easier to engage everyone
in the Mass from the first moment); but in the official liturgical books, the
Mass begins with the Introit.
The Entrance Antiphon for the Third
Sunday of Advent comes from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians and reads: Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, Gaudete.
Dominus enim prope est. In English: “Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” Ever since the time of Pope Saint Gregory the
Great in the sixth century this Sunday of Advent has been marked by this phrase
which invites us to remember that this time of solemn preparation is also a
time of joyful preparation; and it is the reason that we wear a more festive
color in our vestments and we light a rose colored candle. All of this focusing on “rejoice”, however,
begs the question: “In this season of joy, in what do we rejoice?”
For many of us, I suppose that the
answer to this question is simple: We rejoice in the coming celebration of the
birthday of Christ and that, with it, comes joy-filled time with family and
friends following traditions of celebration that connect us to generations of
loved ones. For some of us, perhaps, we
rejoice that all of our presents for loved ones have been bought and wrapped
and we can spend one last week truly enjoying the season (perhaps, however,
that’s only a few of us). Maybe we
rejoice in another year of good health, good work, growth in our families, or
accomplishments in our personal lives.
These, of course, are all worthy things in which to rejoice (to greater
and lesser degrees). Nevertheless, not
everyone is able to rejoice in these things at this time of year; and so none
of these can be the reason why the Church calls us to rejoice. This, therefore, begs the further question: “In
this season of joy, in what should we
rejoice?”
For the prophet Isaiah, the answer was
simple. He had been part of God’s chosen
people who had suffered in exile for years.
He had declared to the people how their sinfulness, their disregard for
God and his commandments, had led to their exile as a sign that God had taken
away his protection from them and that his covenant with them had been
broken. Now, however, Isaiah was able to
declare joyful news: that the time of punishment was at an end. In his own words: “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 captives
and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a
day of vindication by our God.” Everyone
likes to be the bearer of good news, right?
So, no wonder why Isaiah would rejoice.
Notice, however, that this is not the reason why he rejoices.
In the following verse we hear: “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.” Isaiah proclaimed this joyful news: that
Israel’s exile was at an end. He
rejoiced not in the news, however, but in what God had done for him: that, in
declaring this good news, Isaiah is declaring that God has brought salvation to
him and to his people—and, thus, that he has forgiven their sins—so that they
might be restored to right relationship with God; which, for them, meant
eternal life. Now this is something in
which all of us can rejoice, right?
All of us here: those who have been
baptized, and even, in a way, those who are seeking baptism, have been “clothed
in a robe of salvation” through faith and, thus, it is in this that we must “rejoice
heartily in the Lord”. The Third Sunday
of Advent rightly turns our focus from our anticipation of Jesus’ Second Coming
to the celebration of his First Coming on the day of his birth (for it is now
readily at hand). We “rejoice”, however,
not just because Jesus was born to us (even though the coming of God in human
flesh would be reason enough to rejoice!), but rather because of what his birth
meant for us. It meant not just that God
was going to walk among us, like one of us, but that our salvation was finally
at hand! And that the long reign of
death—and sin that causes death—is now at an end: for God has come to save us!
My brothers and sisters, if the thing
in which we rejoice during this season of joy is not that the birth of Christ
was the in-breaking of salvation into the world, then we’ll never understand
what Saint Paul says in his letter to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always. Pray
without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks…” How could we possibly “rejoice, pray, and
give thanks always” in this world that is still filled with so much sadness and
pain unless our rejoicing was for something that transcends this world of
darkness, which has the power to protect us within it and to lift us up from
it? The answer, of course, is that we
can’t. And so, the Church reminds us: Gaudete in Domino semper: “Rejoice in
the Lord always…”
Friends, if you struggle to “rejoice
in the Lord”, don’t worry. Perhaps, like
the priests, Levites, and Pharisees who came out to see John the Baptist you
are looking for the Lord in great signs and powerful show. Or, perhaps, you’ve just let yourself get
caught up in the materialism and commercialism of secular Christmas. If so, allow me to remind you that the Lord
in whom you will find a lasting joy has come, yes, and is coming again, yes,
but is also already among us; in an appearance, perhaps, that we don’t
recognize: the bread and cup that we receive from this altar. Let us, then, turn to him here, in this
humble presence, during this last, full week of Advent, and meet him again; so
that, when we celebrate his birth, this joy of salvation might be in us and our
joy might be complete.
Given
at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – December 17th, 2017
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