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Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent

READ: (Isa 35: 1-6a, 10; Jas 5: 7-10; Matt 11: 2-11)

REFLECT: Hope in God, Have Patience and Believe in God’s works for a real joy in life...

Dear friends, today we are in the third Sunday of Advent. Today we will be lighting the third candle, which is called as the Shepherd’s Candle, as we remember to rejoice in Christ's birth, like the shepherds on the first Christmas Eve. It is also called Gaudette Sunday from the Latin Philippians 4:4-5 “rejoice in the Lord always.” The third candle is usually pink or rose-colored. Pink is associated with joy, and it is on the third Sunday of Advent, we turn from repentance towards the celebration of Christ's imminent birth.

Today, everyone wants to experience joy, but many don’t know where to find it. But the Psalmist in Psalm 16:11 tells us where we can find true joy, “Lord, you make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Yes, the joy is found in the Lord and we need to rejoice in God and rejoin our true selves with God. All the more, the readings of the day invite each to focus on the theme “joy” as we are in the mid-way to celebrate the birth of Jesus. So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection that could help us obtain true joy in God.

1. Hope in God

Hoping in God is our expectation and desire from God that great things would happen from his bounty. In the book of Isa 40:31 we hear, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Yes, this shall be the effect of our Hope in God. The first reading takes us to such an experience of hope, where we shall find fuller joy in God.

In the first reading prophet Isaiah makes known the joyous journey that people would embark towards Zion by the coming of the messiah, who would bring about liberation from all the oppressive notions and structures of the human society.

The reading unfolds to us the supernatural protection and provision, but most of all, the redemption of God. This restorative feature is a glad tiding that will drive away all sadness forever. This is the climax of the eschatological vision: a day when the people of God can be set free from their own sins and the sins of others, when they can come home to their God and be fully restored to his image. The theological principle here is that everyone should be encouraged to experience the salvation of God, no matter how weak or blind they are. God is not only able to remove blindness and strengthen the weak; he will also miraculously open the eyes of many. His kingdom will have abundant water, great fertility, and a holy highway for his redeemed people to come to Zion to worship him.

That’s what we would hear towards the end of the first reading, “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Yes, there is a joy for everyone who hopes in God. Therefore, it is a call to hope in the redemptive act of the Lord. We all know that hope is a strong feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. I am sure none of us hope to experience a failure, an embarrassment or a painful event or tragedy to take place but rather we hope for a better, brighter and joyous future.

Today, most of us have lost a pleasant face or a joyful approach to life, first of all, because we have lost hope and secondly we have put our hope in created things that give us temporary satisfaction and happiness than the creator God, who can give us everlasting joy and peace. Today, our lives are in despair, because, we have lost the rope that connects us to God. The only rope that can pull us back to God is hope. The only rope that can tie or tighten us with God is hope. So let us hope in God and his ways always and experience the joy the hope in God holds for us.

2. Have patience:

We all know that patience is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. Patience involves perseverance in the face of delay. It is tolerance in times of provocation without responding in disrespect or anger. It is forbearance when one is under strain and stress without getting irritated or bored. Sometimes, we may tend to become impatient with the virtue of patience but patience favors and pacifies situations in life.

The letter of St. James reiterates the joy we all would obtain for surety. The joy is certain but may not be imminent or immediate; we need to wait patiently. Patience is but endurance. The endurance in life very well portrayed in the letter of St. James from the beginning chapters and later in Jas 1: 2–5, 12, 19; 4: 6, 8, 10, where James sets it against the background of God’s sovereign control of events and the need to wait for him to act in his own time and way.

The second reading presents to us two examples to understand the power of patience through which we shall all obtain the joy the God has in store for us. First example is of the farmer. Just like a farmer who waits until the harvest time to reap the harvest of joy, not knowing what would be weather conditions or the result of the harvest of the crops would be. But the farmer waits for the time to come patiently. Similarly we need to be patient until the right time comes to enjoy the fruits of hard labor, even at time it may be delayed or that we may have to undergo stress and storms in life. The second example from the first reading is the example of the prophets, who prophesied in the name of God, underwent hardships and pains patiently, and were strengthened and saved from harm to experience God’s blessings in abundance. That’s what the second reading reminds us at the end, “As an example of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” So the hallmark of prophet’s life was their patient waiting for God to answer and accomplish the work through them at an appointed time.

So suffering is not something new, it has been in the past with our ancestors and prophets, we too are part of this life-circle. What we need is our approach and attitudes, the ways and means to handle them. The best way could be to entrust in God’s hands and be patient in hope and joy like our ancestors, prophets and in a special way like Job in the Old Testament. Today, our life situation and feeling too are the same. We become impatient and tired of sufferings that we are put in or faced with. Sometimes the pain is insurmountable and too heavy for us to bear and accept, even to the extent of asking “why me,” it’s too heavy for me to bear.” So in these hours of exhausting feeling, what we need is patience and a strong determination not to renounce one’s faith and fall out of the race we are moving ahead. Moreover it demands from us courage and firm fortitude, that if we are  pursue God and entrust our lives are in God’s hands even nothing could separate us from the joy that is in store for us in the future.

Today what we require is an optimistic outlook that waits for God to intervene even when life situation is dark and bleak. As someone very beautifully said, “Patience is not quietism, just as expectancy is not fanaticism.” Yes, patience is waiting in endurance until the Lord takes action on our behalf for the pains and sufferings we undergo. Let’s have patience, for patience will bring us joy in the Lord.

 3. Believe in God’s works:

Another way of experiencing joy in life is to believe in God’s works. Believing in God’s work would mean that we have complete faith in the power of God, in the powerful works of God and in the limitless goodness that God manifests us each day. In Heb 11: 6 we hear, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God and no one draws closer to him without believing that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him earnestly.” Yes, believing in God and his works can bring us tremendous joy. That’s what we see in the Gospel reading of the day. The gospel reading presents to us the question of John the Baptist about Jesus, “are you the one or shall we look for another,” and the answer of Jesus concerning the question of John the Baptist and the role of John the Baptist. The important assertions that Jesus makes about John the  Baptist are; blessed is the one who does not take offence at Jesus; He is more than a prophet and as well as a least in  the kingdom of heaven.

John the Baptist is blessed because he did not take offence at Jesus’ words and deeds rather accepted him and sent disciples for confirmation of God’s work through Jesus for a new era. John the Baptist is more than a prophet because of his role as a fore-runner and preparer of the ways of Messiah. John the Baptist is least in the Kingdom of God, probably he doubted Jesus with a question whether Jesus was the one or should they expect another. All the more, the verses of the Gospel reading of the day Lk 11: 16-24, we see Jesus denouncing people and the cities in which they lived for the lack of belief and faith in Jesus and his works.

However, the Gospel reminds that Jesus is the giver of Joy and so we need to rejoice in the work of God in and through Jesus. The work of Jesus is given as an answer to the disciples are in pairs; the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead raised to life and the poor hear the good news. Yes, the works of Jesus to people in distress and in sorrow are a joy, because those in sorrows now begin to experience joy by the works of Jesus’ healing and proclamation. The joy that Jesus gives them is a real strength because, Jesus has relieved them from situations and conditions that crippled or chained them from looking at the positive or optimistic sides of life.

Today, we all of us are in multi-faceted difficulties of life. We experience sufferings or distress personally or collectively as a family. Jesus reminds each one of us that we need to believe in him and offer our entire life to him. What takes away our joy today is the joy that pleases our senses and not God. Just as sense perception deceives us, so also the joy obtained by senses can be deceptive and deceive us. Our misplaced joys in misleading or excessive obsession to things like money, power, selfishness, laziness, jealousy, hypocrisy and lack of prayer and trust in God make us lose the taste for real joy that wishes to give us.

So what can contribute real joy are the words and works of Jesus, grace and power of Jesus, our prayer and trust in God, right values and genuine motifs in life and not the delights and attachment of the world and the worldly things, views and  concerns. Let us work for real joy than the joy at the periphery. As psalmist would say, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). Let us take delight in the Lord and rejoice in God’s ways and works.

RESPOND:

Do we have hope in God that he would fulfil our expectations and desires as his children?

Do we have patience to wait for God to answer our pleas and prayers at an appointed time of God?

Do we believe in the works of God manifested through Jesus and his catholic church today?

Let us hope in God, have patience in moments of afflictions and believe in God’s work manifested through Jesus and the Church to find real joy in our lives. Amen.

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968