(Third Sunday of Advent (C): This
homily was given on December 16, 2012 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by
Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Philippians 4:
4-7; Luke 3: 10-18.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Third Sunday of Advent 2012]
The vast majority of Catholics do not live the faith with joy. This is
something that young people never cease to remind me. When I ask teenagers who
don’t come to Mass why they’ve stopped, many respond by saying Mass seems so
dead and purposeless. Most of the “old people” they see look “dead” at Mass,
and seem to come only because they think they “have to be there.” They’ll point
to how many people leave Mass before the end of Mass and ask, “How can Mass be
so important if they can’t leave fast enough?” They’ll point to the fact that
so few people sing. They’ll describe how few people really wish them a genuine
sign of peace. They don’t sense joy; they don’t sense much enthusiasm. And
looking out from the pulpit and the altar, I have to say that, sometimes,
they’re right on. That’s why this Gaudete Sunday is a gift, to get us to focus on
the command God gives us through St. Paul to rejoice always, beginning again
today.
The third Sunday of Advent—the
one on which we light the pink candle of our Advent wreath—is known as “Gaudete
Sunday” as Fr. Landry notes there. Gaudete
is the Latin command to “Rejoice!” It’s
the first word of the entrance antiphon for this Sunday (which is only read at
Masses where there’s no music—so you didn’t hear it today). But it’s also the first word of the
instruction that St. Paul gives us in today’s second reading (which you DID
hear!)—in this great passage from Philippians 4 where he says, “Rejoice in the
Lord always!”
To which many people will
immediately respond, “How, in heaven’s name, is that possible? How can I or anyone else rejoice always?
How can a person rejoice even most of the time? Now can anyone rejoice after Friday’s
horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut?!!!”
Well, first of all, notice the
wording of the text. Notice that St.
Paul does not say, “Rejoice in your circumstances always;” nor does
he say, “Rejoice in your problems
always;” nor does he say, “Rejoice in
your disappointments and trials and sicknesses always.”
He says, “Rejoice IN THE LORD
always!”
That’s different.
To rejoice in the Lord is not a feeling or an emotion based on what’s going on
around us; rather it’s a DECISION! It’s
an act of the will whereby we decide to give praise and glory to God because of
who he is and because of what he has done for us in and through his Son, Jesus
Christ.
And the good news is that we can do
that regardless of what we’re dealing with at the present moment. We can rejoice in that way, for example,
because the expectation of John the Baptist that we heard about in today’s
gospel has been fulfilled: the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire
has come; he’s done his salvific work—and nothing that happens to us in this
life can ever change that fact!
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today and forever, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us. And, since that is the case, it is possible for
a person to always rejoice.
“But, Fr. Ray, you don’t
understand. I have so many reasons NOT
to rejoice—especially at this time of year.”
To which I respond, “Well that’s
precisely why the Mass is so
important, and why you need to be at Mass EVERY SUNDAY AND EVERY HOLY DAY—AT
LEAST.”
The fact of the matter is, we can
all find lots and lots of reasons NOT to rejoice: the tragic events in Newtown;
the terrible economy; the corruption in our government; the violence and
hedonism in our society; the people we know who are sick; our family members
who died recently, or who died during the month of December in years past—and
on and on the list goes.
But here, at Mass, we meet our
living Lord, Jesus Christ, in word and in sacrament! Here, at Mass, we have the opportunity to
focus on who God is, and on what he has done for us in and through his Son,
Jesus Christ—which, as I said a few moments ago, is exactly what we need to
focus on if we’re going to be able to rejoice always!
So the bottom line is this: Mass
is the place where we are supposed to “practice” rejoicing in the Lord, so that
we can then take our rejoicing out there—into the darkness of our world, and
into the difficulties of our lives.
It’s supposed to begin HERE!
Of course the real problem is that
many Catholics don’t rejoice when
they’re here—as Fr. Landry makes clear in that quote I read to you at the
beginning of my homily. Listen again to some of his words: When I ask teenagers who don’t come to Mass why they’ve stopped, many
respond by saying Mass seems so dead and purposeless. Most of the “old people”
they see look “dead” at Mass, and seem to come only because they think they
“have to be there.” [Of course, it
should be added that most of the young people don’t look much better.] [These
teens will] point to how many people leave Mass before the end of Mass and ask,
“How can Mass be so important if [these adults] can’t leave fast enough?” [A
very good question! Obviously, Fr.
Landry could also have mentioned those who are habitually late!] [These teens will] point to the fact that so
few people sing. They’ll describe how few people really wish them a genuine
sign of peace. They don’t sense joy; they don’t sense much enthusiasm.
If we can’t rejoice at Mass, where
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is present to us and with us—and
even within us through the
Eucharist—then how will we be able to rejoice in places where his presence is
not so evident?
The simple answer is, we won’t be
able to! It will be impossible.
If you want to be able to rejoice
out there, then you need to practice
rejoicing in here.
So let’s resolve to do that—at this Mass and at every Mass—by participating with sincere and heartfelt enthusiasm—from
the beginning, and until the end!