Just a word before we go...Third Sunday of Advent...December 15, 2024
Today is known as Gaudete Sunday, because it is all about joy. Joy is elusive, as most of us in the church know all too well. But does it have to be?
Our readings today, beginning with Zephaniah, speak of a faithful remnant, a “people humble and lowly,” telling them to rejoice...God is rejoicing over us, renewing us in love.
Paul tells us that the kindness of the Philippians gives “good news to the poor” by the way they are living.
And John the Baptist in our Gospel, speaks as Jesus would, albeit in a harsher tone, of the imperative of a community to live with integrity and respect for all, with generosity and concern for the other.
All this brings me to this community of St. Anthony. It would seem that the pathway to wholeness as human beings, to holiness as adopted sons and daughters of God, is laid out in these readings. I see our community reflected in these readings, as we work for the fulfillment of God’s dream for the world, working for justice, for the dignity of all people, for the pursuit of a decent life for all. The more a community does this, the closer they become to God, which brings them ever closer to joy. I see this spirit in the way we pray together; the way we exemplify the tenets of the Second Vatican Council, with full, active and conscious participation in the Liturgy; the way we process up the center aisle for reception of the Eucharist as a communal event, not a private devotion. I see the many ways in which we care for one another, spreading kindness and concern, regardless of our own personal circumstances.
We are being renewed by God’s love, opening up to us a new way of seeing, a new way of being, that reveals that love to others, literally giving “good news to the poor.”
The way of the Lord is the way of renewal, the way of hope and promise and grace. As we grow ever closer to the celebration of the birth of the Lord, let us continue to rejoice that we are privileged to participate in God’s holy work. Joy, indeed!