11 Dec 2022 – 3rd Sunday in Advent, A
11 Dec 2022 – 3rd Sunday in Advent, A
Theme: Society finds it so hard to tolerate dissent that those who step out of line are often harshly treated. John the Baptist dared to castigate King Herod for his immoral example, and paid for it with his life.
1st Reading: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10
What God can do: he can open our eyes and turn the barren desert into a blossoming garden
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”
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 speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Responsorial: Psalm 145: 6-10
R./: Lord, come and save us.
It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever,
who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry,
the Lord, who sets prisoners free. (R./)
It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind,
who raises up those who are bowed down,
the Lord, who protects the stranger
and upholds the widow and orphan. (R./)
It is the Lord who loves the just
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign for ever,
Zion’s God, from age to age. (R./)
2nd Reading: James 5:7-10
James urges us to follow the noble example of courage shown by prophets
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is sanding at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11
From his prison cell, John is encouraged by the reports of Jesus’ cures
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John : “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Joy in the Lord
“Be strong and do not fear! Here is your God.” Today is called Rejoicing Sunday. Today the candle on the Advent Wreath is pink, not purple as on the other three Sundays of Advent. It is meant to express our joy at the nearness of Christ’s birthday.
Some people seem to be happy by nature; others mournful by nature. Here is the story of a priest who always preached mournful sermons. He was asked by his parish priest to preach about St. Joseph instead, as he was a cheerful man. The following Sunday the priest spoke about Joseph who happened to be a carpenter and as a result spent a lot of his time making coffins and here we go again with sad, sad tales.
Here are three impressions about happiness. First, that happiness is right here and now.. We convince ourselves that life will be better when we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids are not old enough and we will be more content when they are. After that we are frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together. The truth is there is no better time to be happy than right now.
Second, ‘If you are happy, let your face know.’ Maybe we could begin to be more joyful by taking a peek in the mirror and asking ourselves: does my face look like the face of someone who has heard the good news of the Gospel, namely that I am loved unconditionally by God?
Third, joy will come to us if we set about actively trying to create it for others. If I go about my life demanding that others carry me rather than seeking to carry them; feeding off others rather than feeding them; demanding that others meet my needs rather than trying to meet theirs, joy will never find me no matter how hard I party or try to crank up good cheer.
Could the Baptist have doubted?
Why did the Baptist send from his prison cell that urgent question to Jesus: “Are you He that is to come?” Hadn’t John recognised our Lord as the Messiah several months previously, at the Jordan, when he proclaimed Him publicly as the Lamb of God? Did John, faced with almost certain death under Herod, have doubts or second thoughts about Jesus? Some say no, John only asked the question for the sake of his followers, who needed confirmation of their faith from Christ himself. But if John did have doubts, it was because of the peaceful way that Jesus behaved, not at all like the violent revolutionary the Jews expected as their Messiah. The answer to his question came when Jesus told him what God;s messenger would be like: healer of the sick, consoler of the suffering, preacher of freedom and truth to the poor. In this way, John’s faith in Jesus was made strong, giving him courage to protest against Herod, and accept a martyr’s death.
Key Message:
When we are going through the path of trials, our Christmas gift Jesus is on the way.
Homily:
In a kindergarten school, the teacher asked the students, “What is Christmas for you?” Immediately, a child shouted “Celebration!!” A priest asked the same to one of his grown up parishioners. He immediately replied, “I am anxious about my problems, feel dejected because my own family members hurt me and confused about whatever seems to be happening in my life. You tell me Father how can I be joyful during this Christmas?”
The answer to this question is in the happenings of the First Christmas. Mamma Mary and Saint Joseph also walked in the same challenging path. When the Angel Gabriel visited Mamma Mary, Gabriel conveyed all the unimaginable challenges – You will become a mother as a virgin, Your Son will be the Son of God, The Holy Spirit will overshadow you and by the presence of the Holy Spirit you will become pregnant.
All these challenges were not even heard before. They were too big for a little girl. But Mamma Mary did not question, “This is too big for me. Whatever has been told to me has never happened to anyone else in the world. I will be separated from the rest of the world because of this. When people come to know that I have become a mother before my marriage, I will be put to shame. How can God who is so good think that I can suffer so much?” She only trusted God and accepted His Holy will for Her life.
Mamma Mary had to ride on a donkey’s back in cold weather on the last three days of her pregnancy, that too, just before going birth. God did not create an easy journey for Mamma Mary because she said ‘yes’ to His will. God did not grant any extra privilege to Mamma Mary because she was carrying God’s only son. Actually, it was more challenging than others.
The Angel Gabriel told Mamma Mary, “You have been chosen by God for a purpose”. Similarly our guardian angels also tell the same to us, “You have been chosen by God for a purpose”. We should not see the challenges in our life. We will lose the purpose of our life if we do not follow Mamma Mary. But like our sweet Mamma Mary, let us trust in God to take care of us and submit ourselves to His Holy plan.
Worry and joy never go hand-in-hand. Mamma Mary did not worry about where to give birth, who would help for her child’s birth or how difficult it would be or anything else because she trusted that God would give at the required time. He is the loving Father for all of us, isn’t He? He will take care of us.
Now let us consider the tests undergone by Saint Joseph. When Mamma Mary revealed to Saint Joseph about offering her virginity to God, Saint Joseph excitedly and immediately offered his virginity also to God our Father. When Saint Joseph came to know about the pregnancy of Mamma Mary, his heart would have broken down. Any one in his place would have got enraged and would have put the person into public shame. But the Bible says, because he was righteous he did not want to put Mamma Mary to public shame. When he received dejection, he replied with grace. He did not call his brother and complain about how he was cheated. He did not tell anyone. At the moment of his extreme trial, he still maintained his righteousness in front of God. Not for one moment did he slip away from his righteousness.
Are we carrying the bitterness caused by wounds from others? We hurt others and others hurt us. Our rebellion against God causes us to hurt others. But when we overlook the faults of others there is a lot of peace and joy in our hearts. When we remember their faults, it will further hurt us, not those who caused us hurt. We will worry about it while they will not even realise it and will have a great time! Do we think that they don’t deserve our forgiveness? If so, then we too don’t deserve forgiveness from God. Have you ever wondered why children are happier than elders? Because they forget others’ faults very easily.
Let us not approach our baby Jesus in the crib with bitterness in our hearts. Whatever may be the hurt, let us remove the bitterness from our hearts and approach our baby Jesus happily.
We have discussed the individual tests for Mamma Mary and Saint Joseph. Both of them together faced lots of uncertainties in the critical time of their lives. When Mamma Mary was about to deliver the child, they had to undergo a long trip to Bethlehem. They had to leave the house where they had prepared everything for the baby. The weather was very cold and, in that cold weather, they had to travel miles without any closed caravan. They had only one donkey so Saint Joseph had to walk all the way continuously for three days. They had no hotel to stay at during the night in the journeys. No known person to support them. No midwife to take care of the delivery. All the time in Saint Joseph’s mind was how to get a room for the delivery. They did not have enough finance to support them. They did not have their extended family to take care of them. Neither any house for them to shelter them. All the time, they never cribbed that they did not have this or that. They did not stop. With whatever minimal things they had they moved forward. Though they could not see any good thing happening to them, they were able to trust that God would take care of them.
God did not prepare Mamma Mary and Saint Joseph for their first Christmas by blessing them with new dresses or a nice vehicle to travel or a nice hotel room or with finance and family support. He prepared them by allowing them to pass through the path of trials. When they were thoroughly tested, they were gifted with the blessing of baby Jesus.
Now let us consider the preparation of the Wise Men. For months together they longed, searched and found the star. Then the star guided them to baby Jesus. Their heart had a longing to search for God. They left all their regular chores and started their journey to an unknown destination. They did not know each other initially, they started alone. When they began their journey it was not told to them that a star will be waiting for them to guide them. Without any clarity they started. But they reached their destination successfully.
In our life we will be filled with lots of unanswered questions. But God has already prepared stars for us to help us. Only when we reach a certain place, the stars will be visible to our eyes. But before reaching that place we should not go back on our journey.
When the three Wise Men told Herod that the Messiah was born, along with the king Herod, the whole of Jerusalem was upset. It was a great blessing that they had been praying and longing for, for centuries. But when it actually happened everyone was upset. On knowing this, they should have been happier, shouldn’t they? Why were they not able to feel happiness? Because they were not properly prepared. It was a sudden shock for them. God was not familiar to them. Though they went to the temple to pray they did not enjoy the nearness to God.
Nearness to our Lord Jesus comes when we spend more time with him. Let our Jesus become part of our daily routine. Listen to Christian songs when we are in the midst of our daily chores. Baby Jesus does not like to be alone. He likes to be our friend.
Let us prepare well to receive our baby Lord Jesus!!
Every third Sunday of Advent Sunday is popularly termed Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is a Latin word for ‘rejoice’. It is indeed a Sunday of joy as reflected in the texts of the day. The ultimate reason for our Joy is that Jesus is about to be born again into our lives. One of the greatest miracles we can ever have. We already anticipate such an immensely joyful experience.
John the Baptist is a figure that reflects the joy we celebrate today. He was in the wilderness, yet we see the sense of joy in his dedication to his mission as a forerunner to Jesus, a voice crying in the Wilderness and a person that must decrease while the messiah increases (cf. John 3:30).
Your joy must not be dependent on a person, a thing, a place or an event. Every time, in fact now is the time to be joyful. Do not postpone it and do not tie it to the past or the future only.