Third Sunday of Advent 2015 "Gaudete Sunday"

This past Tuesday, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s to begin the Jubilee of Mercy. Francis said this Holy Year will focus on the topic of mercy. He says he wants this church of 1.2 billion members to more merciful and less rigid toward sinners. The Jubilee would be an occasion for all members – and for the church itself – to rediscover the need to be forgiving and generous. The church is the home that accepts everyone and refuses no one – the greater the sin, the greater the love that the church should toward those who repent.

In that spirit, we have begun the liturgy of the third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday – by blessing the holy door – sancta porta – of our church. This door between the church and our Blessed Sacrament chapel celebrates for our parish community God’s limitless mercy. This door that connects our Eucharistic altar table with the Blessed Sacrament chapel is indeed a holy door. May all who pass through this door celebrate God’s merciful love for us. May we who pass through this door be confirmed in our vision of church that accepts everyone and refuses no one.

In the gospel of this third Sunday of Advent, John the Baptist is asked by the people what they should do to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. John’s response starts out with what we have come to call the corporal works of mercy. “Let the person with two coats give to the person who has none. The person who has food should do the same.” In other words, show mercy to those in need – without conditions.

Still others asked John what they should do to prepare for the Messiah. John’s response was that they should not take advantage of others; treat others honestly and with respect; be satisfied with what they are given. Mercy is a component of these behaviors, for in them we treat others equally and without judgment.

This Advent is the perfect time for us to establish during this jubilee year of mercy our parish holy door of mercy. As we pray in our Blessed Sacrament chapel and in our church, may we with grateful and joy-filled hearts celebrate the presence of Jesus among us.

As we gather this Wednesday evening for our Advent penance service with individual confession, may the door leading into the confession be also a holy door for us celebrating God’s limitless love for us.

In the first Scripture from the prophet Zephaniah, we are told that sin occurs when we search for happiness apart from God, when are too caught in the busyness, the commercialism, the fleeting pleasures of life. The prophet reminds us that the Lord, your God, is in our midst. The Lord wishes to rejoice with you and renew you in his love.
We confess the times we have searched for happiness apart from God. Sometimes we search for happiness in our wealth, in our successes, in our desire to control people and manage what happens in life, in our pride, in our sexuality and so on and so on.

May the apostle Paul be an example for us. The apostle Paul in the second Scripture tells the Philippians and all of us: “Rejoice in the Lord always, I shall say it again: rejoice!” Now mind you Paul is writing from his prison cell. Paul was not rejoicing in the things of this world; rather Paul was rejoicing because God was with him in his prison cell as he wrote to the Philippian church.

The apostle Paul, even from a prison cell, knew that joy was the basic mood of a Christian. This is the theme of Gaudete Sunday. However, at times one gets the impression that it is not the experience of many Christians, who somehow have come to believe that religion is a serious business, that one is not living a good Christian life unless it is full of sacrifices, that a Christian means giving up many of the pleasures that are available to non-Christians. They seem to think that being a Christian means living a half-life as the price for a better to come.

There is a saying: “A sad saint is a sad kind of saint.” A sad Christian is a contradiction in terms. That is not to say that there is not sadness in any Christian life – as in any normal person’s life – times of pain, of sickness, of failure, of great loss. Grieving and letting go is an important part of life but these experiences do not ultimately define as the disciples of Jesus. Even in the midst of tears, the works of Jesus to us are: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and also in me.”

Every experience, if we can only realize it, is touched by God and has its meaning. Once that meaning is found and accepted, inner joy and peace can return. The great truth of our life is we have everything we need here and now to be happy. Amen. The problem is that we identify our happiness with people or things we don’t have and often can’t have. Many of us people who are poor, people who don’t the things of life we take for granted, and yet they are filled with joy. There joy comes from within. It is the joy that is a gift of God to one and all.

May John the Baptist be an Advent guide for us. Our aim, our mission is to lead people to the feet of Jesus that they may know him personally as Saviour, Lord, brother and Friend? Our role is, like John the Baptist, to step aside once the introductions are over and leave Jesus to do his work.

At the same time, Jesus does need our cooperation. Jesus works through every parent and every teacher and every parishioner who has a call to form people. Saturday morning, we celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation with 139 of our younger parishioners. To prepare these beautiful young people, we need the commitment of their parents, the parish catechists and staff, the priests, and the example of the whole community. Our commitment as a parish is to bring people to know and experience Jesus. That is the pattern and meaning of evangelization, of bringing the Gospel to others.

In this Advent season, as we joyfully prepare for the coming of Christ, may we lead others to Jesus. This is our mission as Catholics – to experience Jesus in our hearts and to share the love of Jesus with others.