Third Sunday of Advent – Year C: Advent, the season of joy

Advent, the season of joy

“What must we do?”
Luke 3:10-18

The third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday,” after the first word that opens the celebration: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. The Lord is near!” (Entrance antiphon, cf. Phil 4:4-5). In the penitential atmosphere that characterises the Advent season, this Sunday brings us a special invitation to joy.

The journey of Advent is a guided path. The liturgy offers us three guides: the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist, and the Virgin Mary. They are three “teachers” who take turns as we approach Christmas. Isaiah is the messianic prophet par excellence because he announces the arrival of the Messiah. He is the one who fuels waiting and hope. John the Baptist, on the other hand, calls us to conversion to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah. Finally, the Virgin Mary teaches us how to welcome him: by conceiving him in our hearts.

The liturgy places the figure of John the Baptist at the centre of the second and third Sundays of Advent, according to the narrative of Saint Luke, the Gospel that will guide us throughout this liturgical year “C.” John echoes the cry of the prophet Isaiah in the desert: “A voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord!” (Luke 3:1-6, second Sunday). The Gospel passage of this third Sunday presents the reaction of the crowds to his preaching: “What must we do?”

I would like to develop my reflection around two words that encapsulate the message of this Sunday: Joy and Conversion. At first glance, joy and conversion might seem distant, but upon reflection, we discover that they harmonise perfectly. Joy arises from conversion (as shown in the parables of mercy in Luke 15) and, at the same time, conversion springs from joy (as in the story of Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:8).

JOY that gives flavour to life!

This third Sunday – as we mentioned – is characterised by a strong, firm, and decided invitation to rejoice because the Lord is near.

In the first reading, the prophet Zephaniah insists on urging the people of God to rejoice: “Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, sing joyfully, Israel, rejoice and exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!… Do not fear, Zion, do not let your hands grow weak! The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty saviour.”
We too are in dire need of encouragement, especially in a context marked by widespread pessimism about the future.

The Responsorial Psalm takes up a text from Isaiah that invites us to express joy through singing: “Sing and rejoice, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
In the second reading, Saint Paul strongly reiterates the invitation to joy: “Brothers, rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice… The Lord is near!”

If we look around, there is little to rejoice about, trapped as we are in an increasingly tangled web of problems and threats to life. What is the Christian’s joy? It is certainly not a carefree or noisy joy. This type of joy is superficial and fleeting, often concealing an inner emptiness and acting as a sedative.
The Christian’s joy, on the other hand, arises from a unique experience: God’s closeness, the feeling of being loved, the knowledge that the Lord is in our midst. “We have come to know and believe in the love that God has for us. God is love” (1 John 4:16).

In conclusion, Advent is a favourable time to rediscover the source of the fresh and abundant water of joy that springs from God’s heart.

CONVERSION that makes joy blossom

But what about John the Baptist? Can we consider him a witness to joy? His austere persona and the severity of his message do not immediately seem associated with the image of a messenger of joy. Yet, John’s figure is far from estranged from joy. On the contrary! He is an evangeliser, that is, a bearer of joyful news. Saint Luke summarises his preaching by stating: “John preached the good news to the people” (Luke 3:18).

John was the first to be “evangelised” by the coming of the Messiah, even in his mother’s womb. Elizabeth, his mother, indeed says during Mary’s visit: “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy” (Luke 1:44). John himself would declare that he is the friend of the bridegroom who “rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice,” and concludes: “This joy of mine is now complete” (John 3:29).

John’s austerity and frankness make his message all the more credible. Indeed, the crowds, moved by his teaching, ask him: “What must we do?” Even tax collectors and soldiers approach him to be baptised, asking: “And we, what must we do?”
The prophet’s response surprises us for two reasons. Firstly, John does not propose “religious” requests, such as going to the Temple, praying, or offering sacrifices. Instead, he invites us to practise acts of social justice, sharing, and respect for people. Moreover, it is surprising because he does not ask tax collectors and soldiers to abandon their profession but to carry it out with honesty.

We often interpret conversion in the manner of Paul, like the famous “fall from the horse.” The Lord, however, adjusts to our pace, walks beside us, and, with patience, educates us toward a change in our lifestyle. He does not (usually!) adopt the “all or nothing” strategy. He knows well our fragility and fear of drastic measures. Deep down, we are like little birds shivering on a winter’s day, longing for some comfort and a gentle touch, but too frightened to accept God’s outstretched hand towards us.

“Be careful, Lord, not to ask too much of us, not to demand too much, not to believe too much in us!… Be careful with me, Lord, be calm and gentle, be patient with me and with my heart, still too frightened” (Alessandro Deho’).

Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia, mccj

To share tears in order to be able to share a smile
Pope Francis

In today’s Gospel, there is a question posed three times: “What shall we do?” (Lk 3:10, 12, 14). It is raised to John the Baptist by three categories of people: First, the crowd in general; second, the publicans or tax collectors; and, third, some soldiers. Each of these groups questions the prophet on what must be done to implement the conversion that he is preaching. John’s reply to the question of the crowd is sharing essential goods. He told the first group, the crowd, to share basic necessities, and therefore says: “He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise” (v. 11). Then, he tells the second group, the tax collectors, to collect no more than the amount owed. What does this mean? No taking ‘bribes’, John the Baptist is clear. And he tells the third group, the soldiers, not to extort anything from anyone and to be content with their wages (cf. v. 14). There are three answers to the three questions of these groups. Three answers for an identical path of repentance, which is manifested in concrete commitments to justice and solidarity. It is the path that Jesus points to in all his preaching: the path of diligent love for neighbour.

From John the Baptist’s admonitions, we understand the general tendencies of those who at that time held power, in various forms. Things have not changed very much. However, no category of people is excluded from following the path of repentance to obtain salvation, not even the tax collectors, considered sinners by definition: not even they are excluded from salvation. God does not preclude anyone from the opportunity to be saved. He is — so to speak — anxious to show mercy, to show it towards everyone, and to welcome each one into the tender embrace of reconciliation and forgiveness.

We feel that this question — “What shall we do?” — is ours also. Today’s liturgy tells us, in the words of John, that it is necessary to repent, to change direction and take the path of justice, solidarity, sobriety: these are the essential values of a fully human and genuinely Christian life. Repent! It sums up the message of the Baptist. And the Liturgy of this Third Sunday of Advent helps us to rediscover a special dimension of repentance: joy. Whoever repents and approaches the Lord, feels joy. The prophet Zephaniah says to us today: “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion!”, addressing Jerusalem (Zeph 3:14); and the apostle Paul exhorts the Christians of Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). Today, it takes courage to speak of joy, which, above all, requires faith! The world is beset by many problems, the future is burdened by uncertainties and fears. Yet, Christians are a joyful people, and their joy is not something superficial and ephemeral, but deep and stable, because it is a gift from the Lord that fills life. Our joy comes from the certainty that “the Lord is at hand” (Phil 4:5): he is close with his tenderness, his mercy, his forgiveness and his love.

May the Virgin Mary help us to strengthen our faith, so that we are able to welcome the God of joy, the God of mercy, who always wants to live in the midst of his children. May our Mother teach us to share tears with those who weep, in order to be able to also share a smile.
Angelus 13.12.2015

“REJOICE ALWAYS”
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa

Zephaniah 3:14-18; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18

The third Sunday of Advent is pervaded by the theme of joy. This Sunday is traditionally called “Laetare” Sunday, that is, the Sunday of “rejoicing,” from the words of St. Paul in the second reading: “Rejoice in the Lord always; I say again, rejoice.”

In the first reading we hear the words of the prophet Zephaniah: “Rejoice, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” In the responsorial psalm this extraordinary vocabulary of joy is enriched with still other terms: “My strength and my courage is the Lord, and he has been my salvation. With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation. … Shout with exultation, O city of Zion.”

Let us remain for a while with this word. (The Gospel passage continues the message of John the Baptist that we commented on last Sunday.) In the poem “Il sabato del villaggio” (“The village sabbath”) Giacomo Leopardi has expressed the idea that in the present life the only authentic and possible joy is the joy of expectation, the joy of the sabbath. It is a “day full of hope and joy,” full of joy precisely because it is full of hope. The expectation of the feast is better than the feast itself.

The possession of the good that was longed for brings nothing but disillusionment and boredom, because every finite good reveals itself to be inferior to what was desired and is tiresome; only expectation is the bearer of living joy. But this is precisely what Christian joy is in this world: the joy of the sabbath, the prelude to the Sunday without end, which is eternal life. St. Paul says that Christians must be “joyful in hope” (Romans 12:12), which does not mean that we must “hope to be happy” (after death), but that we must be “joyful in hope,” already happy now by the simple fact of hoping.

The Apostle does not limit himself only to the command to rejoice; he also indicates how a community that wants to bear witness to joy and make it credible to others must conduct itself. He says: “Your affability should be known by all men.”

The Greek word that we translate as “affability” signifies a whole complex of attitudes that runs from clemency to the capacity to know how to believe and to show oneself to be lovable, tolerant, and hospitable. We could translate it with the word “kindness.” It is necessary that we first of all rediscover the human value of this virtue. Kindness is a virtue which is at risk, or, more exactly, it is a virtue that is extinct in the society in which we live.

Gratuitous violence in films and on television, language that is intentionally vulgar, the competition to go beyond the limits in regard to brutality and explicit sex is making us used to every expression of ugliness and vulgarity.

Kindness is a balm in human relationships. Family life would be so much better if there were more kindness in our gestures, in our words, and above all, in the sentiments of our hearts. Nothing extinguishes the joy of being together more than a certain vileness in our behavior. “A kind answer,” says Scripture, “calms wrath, but a barbed one brings ire” (Proverbs 15:14). “A kind mouth multiplies friends, and gracious lips prompt friendly greetings” (Sirach 6:5). A kind person generates fond feelings and admiration wherever he goes.

Alongside this human value we must also rediscover the Gospel value of kindness. In the Bible the terms “meek” and “mild” do not have the passive sense of “subjected,” “repressed,” but the active sense of a person who acts with respect, courtesy, clemency toward others.

Kindness is indispensable above all for those who want to help others find Christ. The Apostle Peter recommends to the first Christians to be “ready to give a reason for their hope,” but adds immediately: “But this must be done with sweetness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15 ff), which is to say, with kindness.