Rejoice! He is Near!

3rd Sunday of Advent
Dec. 16, 2012
(Lk 3:10-18)

The crowds asked John the Baptist,
"What should we do?"
He said to them in reply,
"Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise."
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
"Teacher, what should we do?"
He answered them,
"Stop collecting more than what is prescribed."
Soldiers also asked him,
"And what is it that we should do?"
He told them,
"Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages."

Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
"I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.

As St. John the Baptist continues his preaching, the people were filled with expectation, so our Gospel tells us. Indeed, the same feeling is ours now that we are nearing the Solemnity of the Lord’s Birth. The Church invites us today to rejoice as we celebrate Gaudete Sunday (“Rejoice” Sunday) in the midst of our Advent journey.

 

To rejoice is truly a Christian thing to do. St. Paul, in the Second Reading (Phil 4:4-7) urges the Philippians to rejoice always in the Lord and to show their kindness to all.

St. John the Baptist, on the other hand, in preparing the expectant people for Jesus’ public ministry, exhorts them to practice charity, to show love and concern for their neighbors and to always do what is just in their dealings with other people. St. John’s message applies to us today. As we wait for the Lord’s second coming and anticipate the joy of the Christmas celebration, we are reminded to take another look at how we relate to other people. In our love for our neighbor, we show our love for God and our deep longing for Him.

Our joy, of course, does not come exclusively from a life lived in love and justice, lest we fall into the error of believing that our joy comes only from what we do, from our own merit. After instructing the people, John the Baptist speaks about someone who will come after him – Jesus. It is Jesus who comes to us that give us true joy. “The Lord is near,” says St. Paul; that is why we are joyful! Being righteous is not the cause of our joy. We are joyful, rather, because of Jesus, Righteousness Himself, in whose example we follow.

In our Advent journey, we are again filled with joy because the Lord is indeed coming! May we find that true joy that comes only from Christ and not from Christmas decorations. Also, like John the Bapist, may we continue to point to Jesus, telling everyone that He brings salvation and joy to all. Thus shall peace, justice and love be our treasures not only for the coming Christmas season, but for the rest of our lives!

Joy and Repentance

2nd Sunday of Advent
Dec. 9, 2012
(Lk 3:1-6)

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

John the Baptist is a key figure of the Advent Season. He was the herald of the Lord Jesus. His task was to prepare the people of Israel for the Lord's coming - for the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. We are fortunate to have St. John the Baptist as a model in our Advent preparation. As he wanted to prepare the people of his time for Jesus' coming, we also wish to prepare ourselves now for the Lord's second coming. And hopefully, this Advent Season may remind us of the importance of always being prepared for the Lord's coming, whatever liturgical season it may be.

John the Baptist prepared the people for Jesus through a baptism of repentance. Truly, sin hinders our openness to God who is coming to us. So it was repentance that John called for so that the people of Israel would be ready and open to the message that Jesus was about to proclaim. Today the Church also calls us to repentance and conversion - our proper preparation for the "end of the world" or for the Lord's coming. For the Lord will come to judge us according to our faithfulness.

The words of Isaiah are echoed by John: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low." Yes, the Lord's coming demands such a radical change. The mountains and hills of sin and secular worries must be made low. They should be brought to level ground so that justice may reign in us. The valleys - the laziness and the refusal to follow God's law of love - should be filled in with charity, with virtues, and especially with the adherence to the beatitudes of Jesus. This is authentic repentance and conversion! We should not stop with mere sorrow for our sins and failures. We must come to Jesus in Confession and strive, through divine grace, to amend our lives, keeping the faith until He comes again.

We know that the Lord will be coming, yet we do not know when He will come. For all we know, He might come again during Ordinary Time! Therefore, the call to repentance, to turn away from sin and to practice charity is a call that we must answer everyday. We know that when Jesus comes, He will bring salvation to His faithful ones. Therefore, we must always remain faithful and as much as we can, with God's grace, never falter in our Christian living even for a moment. For all we know, that one moment when we become unfaithful might be the last moment we have.

True, Advent is a time of joyful expectation. But it is also true that it is a penitential season, though not as much as Lent is. We are joyful because we have that "blessed hope" that Jesus will surely come to bring us salvation. But we must also be repentant, mindful that Jesus will come as our Judge and Savior.