3rd Sunday of Advent 2013

There is the story of Paddy who was a bit hung over and he came to the Church to pray. He decided to pray the Stations of the Cross. Regrettably he started at the last station, the 14^th station, and worked his way backwards to the First Station. Paddy felt a little better and said: “I think Jesus is getting better.”

On Gaudete Sunday, things are getting better as well as the joy of Christmas begins to invade the Advent Season with the lighting of the pink candle of the Advent wreath and wearing of the pink vestments.

From today’s Gospel, John the Baptist: “Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another? Jesus said to them in reply, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.’”

It’s important to know the context behind John’s question: People had flocked from all over to hear John’s prediction of God’s consuming wrath, and of the need for a total conversion through baptism in the river Jordan. As a result, King Herod had John arrested and imprisoned so that all this great protest could be stopped once and for all.

This brings us to Jesus who went in a different direction from John – a direction based on his unique relationship with the God he called Abba, Father. Instead of emphasizing the wrath of God and the punishment soon to come, Jesus saw everything in the context of God’s great, infinite mercy.

The Advent Season raises our awareness of God’s promises to us and our promises to God. Our promise to God can be found in our parish Advent theme: STAY AWAKE – staying awake to God in everyday life.

In fact, Jesus introduced a whole new language about God. He agreed with John that the people needed conversion. But what he wanted people to see first was not the wrath of God so much as his incredible compassion for all.

And so, Jesus began talking about something he called “the reign of God.” He emphasized that God comes to us primarily as a savior, a liberator. He replaced the Baptist’s austere life in the desert with a lifestyle centered on meals open to everyone, meals in which he could invite people to celebrate this new possibility of total trust in a Father God.

And then Jesus began doing something that John never did. He healed people whom no one else could heal; he soothed the pain of the “least of these” who lived on the margins of society; he blessed and embraced women and children. Everyone was invited to the feast of mercy.


That’s the background to this powerful story we hear in today’s Gospel. John and his followers are beginning to wonder about Jesus. What is he doing? John the Baptist is in a dark place and asks a heavy question: “Are you the one to come or should we look for another?”

Jesus’s response to all of this is very simple: “Go and tell John what you hear and see.”

Fast forward two thousand years, when a family moves from one location to another, they sometimes go Church shopping wondering this parish is a good fit for them or whether they should look for another. If you were to go Church-shopping, what would you look for in a parish? A parish with a Catholic school, a parish with a vibrant youth ministry, a God-centered parish, a parish with a dominant social outreach focus, a parish where hospitality is part of the DNA, liturgies with quality preaching, liturgies with music that inspires and invites the participation of all.

In some ways this question is the question of John the Baptist: are you the one who is to come or should we look for another.

In our parish life, do people experience healing, liberation, hope, and is the Good News of the love of Jesus preached to one and all?

For me, the response of Jesus to John the Baptist can be found in Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel.

The words and actions of Pope Francis has captured the imagination of the world and breathed new life into the Church. “Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, we should appear as people who wish to share our joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak. We need to carefully reflect on the words we say before receiving the Eucharist: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but say only the word and my soul shall be healed.”

The confessional is not a torture-chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy.
Take-home message. May we experience our parish penance service as an encounter with our healing Lord.

As we ask the question: is our parish the real thing or should we look for another? Do people experience in our parish life the Advent hope and joy that transforms people lives? Do we witness to the profound words of Nelson Mandela: “There is no future without forgiveness.” May we be a parish community that celebrates the forgiveness of God in our lives and may we be the bearers of forgiveness with one another. Yes, we are loved sinners and God forgives us unconditionally. Maranatha.