Homily
A rose vestment is optional for Gaudete Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Rejoicing is not! A distinctive mark of any Christian is joy! It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we are not joyful people, then we are not living our faith correctly. We are to be known always and everywhere for our joy, but especially as we turn the corner on this Pink Sunday toward the full celebration of the Christmas mystery! Sure, this is a time of frenzied activity - shopping days and preparations, unless you're a guy, in which case you surely haven't even started yet. But our deepest emotion right now, indicated by the distinctive color rose on Gaudete Sunday, is joy! Our deepest spiritual attitude is joy, because our Lord is near!
Our readings for the third Sunday of Advent are not only full of joy, they also speak of hope! Alongside joy, hope is the distinctive mark of a Christian. Hope is that theological virtue, directly poured into our hearts by the Lord so that we can live in expectation. Hope alone convicts us that convicts us that a tiny, helpless, poor baby born in the darkest hour of the darkest night in the middle of nowhere, is leading to the redemption of the world from the inside out, beginning with me. Hope is that virtue that sees in the mystery of Bethlehem the small yet perfect beginning of the building of the Kingdom of God that cannot be destroyed like the first creation was, but a kingdom that can only grow stronger and larger and then will last forever.
3rd Sunday of Advent B
Gaudete Sunday
14 December 2014
Christ the King Topeka
Audio
A rose vestment is optional for Gaudete Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Rejoicing is not! A distinctive mark of any Christian is joy! It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we are not joyful people, then we are not living our faith correctly. We are to be known always and everywhere for our joy, but especially as we turn the corner on this Pink Sunday toward the full celebration of the Christmas mystery! Sure, this is a time of frenzied activity - shopping days and preparations, unless you're a guy, in which case you surely haven't even started yet. But our deepest emotion right now, indicated by the distinctive color rose on Gaudete Sunday, is joy! Our deepest spiritual attitude is joy, because our Lord is near!
Now is the time to intensify our spiritual preparation for Christmas. We can do this by imagining what my heart would be like, how my life would be different, and what state our poor world would be if Christ had not come. What if we lived without Christmas? We might pretend we would have invented Christmas . .but is that true? What if the world had not welcomed the light who is able to break through the evil and darkness of
our world. If the world had not received the gift of the only one, who once created the entire universe out of nothing, alone has the power to remake our world from the inside out, what would be our future? If the Lord had not traveled into our world, would we have long since stopped traveling to see each other. If He had not come as the greatest gift the world could hope for, would we have stopped giving to each other? If He had not chosen to draw close to us, would we have given up on trying to be close to each other. Jesus is the reason and hope of this holy season. He is the ground of our traveling, our giving, our drawing together in vulnerability and love. He is the hope of the world. He is coming! Rejoice, then! Again I say rejoice! The Lord is near!
our world. If the world had not received the gift of the only one, who once created the entire universe out of nothing, alone has the power to remake our world from the inside out, what would be our future? If the Lord had not traveled into our world, would we have long since stopped traveling to see each other. If He had not come as the greatest gift the world could hope for, would we have stopped giving to each other? If He had not chosen to draw close to us, would we have given up on trying to be close to each other. Jesus is the reason and hope of this holy season. He is the ground of our traveling, our giving, our drawing together in vulnerability and love. He is the hope of the world. He is coming! Rejoice, then! Again I say rejoice! The Lord is near!
Our readings for the third Sunday of Advent are not only full of joy, they also speak of hope! Alongside joy, hope is the distinctive mark of a Christian. Hope is that theological virtue, directly poured into our hearts by the Lord so that we can live in expectation. Hope alone convicts us that convicts us that a tiny, helpless, poor baby born in the darkest hour of the darkest night in the middle of nowhere, is leading to the redemption of the world from the inside out, beginning with me. Hope is that virtue that sees in the mystery of Bethlehem the small yet perfect beginning of the building of the Kingdom of God that cannot be destroyed like the first creation was, but a kingdom that can only grow stronger and larger and then will last forever.
Hope is different than optimism. I'm optimistic about a lot of things. Essentially, I expect things to go well, and to catch some breaks. Yet hope, which is proper to a Christian, is distinct from optimism. Optimism persists through some adversity, expecting the good to outweigh the bad in the long term, and that everything will turn out fine. I'm optimistic, for example, that KU will come back and win even if they're playing badly or are behind in the game. Pessimistic people are the opposite. Yet optimism is not the same as hope. Hope is able to grow where optimism has to admit defeat. As we learn from the mystery of Christmas, hope is born precisely where defeat seems final. In entering the world in such a small way, Jesus shows his desire to visit our world precisely where all seems lost. He visits places where darkness, sin, brokenness, pain, despair, loneliness, vulnerability, poverty, and yes, even death have had their say. Only he can visit these places and redeem them. A favorite way for me to say this is that only Jesus can visit you and love your and forgive you where you cannot know or love or change yourself.
The mystery of Christmas is the mystery of Jesus, the Lord of all the universe, becoming smaller and smaller, until we have no defenses left that are impenetrable to him. Our deepest rejoicing and hope then, come from knowing that this Christmas I have prepared a highway for Jesus to be born in a new place within me where I've never let him visit me before. He makes all things new, including those parts of me that I have lost hope of ever changing. Jesus is coming to heal us and redeem us from the inside out, to break down our defenses as only a baby can. He makes himself smaller than ever this Christmas, so that He can reach a new place within us. It is this pattern of his visitation that eventually will redeem the entire world, but He wishes this Christmas to begin with my heart
Are you ready for such a visit this Christmas from the Lord? Are you prepared for the best Christmas you've ever had. Will you allow him to visit a new place within you, and make you new from the inside out? Is the hope of Christmas real for you? If so, rejoice! Again, I say to you rejoice! The Lord is near!
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