3rd Sunday of Advent (Cycle B)

December 11, 2005

by Rev. Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

Today is the 3^rd Sunday of Advent called Gaudette Sunday, which means to rejoice. That is why the advent candle is rose colored today, rather than, purple. As of today we have 15/14 days left until Christmas. People are scurrying about making preparations for Christmas. They are putting up Christmas trees and decorating their houses; they are out buying gifts for the special people in their lives; sending out greeting cards to family and friends; making arrangements as to where they will celebrate the holy day; in short, everyone, in one way or another, is busily involved in getting ready for the celebration of Christmas.

This is the time of the year when we especially look forward to being together with family and friends and sharing together. The children, especially, are full of joyful anticipation as they wonder what Santa Claus is going to bring them for Christmas; and, when they think no one is looking, perhaps picking up that present from their brother or sister or mom and dad, and shaking it a little, and feeling its weight, trying to guess what it might be. The general spirit is one of joyful anticipation as we look forward to celebrating that very special day of the year.

Yes, indeed, it is a time of anticipation and a time of preparation. It is a time to look forward to the coming of Christmas. And that is exactly what the period of Advent is all about. It is a time to look forward to the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, into our lives. It is a time to prepare ourselves to receive the great gift that he offers us; the gift of the “robe of salvation” that heals our poverty of spirit, our broken hearts, and our bondage to sinfulness.

We all expend a great deal of time and energy in preparing for the secular celebration of Christmas, and there is nothing wrong in that, as long as we don’t lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas, which is, as holy scripture tells us, when “in the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high broke upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way of peace.” Mindful of this, it is incumbent upon us to appropriately prepare for the spiritual celebration of the coming of Christ. Jesus Christ is the gift of salvation to all people; to all who are willing to receive him. His is the greatest of all gifts; for he offers the hope of eternal life to all who will receive him in their living and life.

But we must make preparations to receive Christ into our life. Just as when we prepare to receive family and friends at Christmas by cleaning and decorating our houses, and having refreshments available to serve them, and maybe a gift to give them, so to do we have to prepare ourselves to receive the gift of Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist in today’s gospel, quoting the words of Isaiah the Prophet, says: “I am a voice in the desert crying out: Make straight the way of the Lord.”

It was the role of John the Baptist to herald the coming of Jesus, and to prepare the people to receive him by a changing of their living and life. John’s message to the people over 2000 years ago still applies to us today as well. We have to change the direction of our life; we have to make straight the way of the Lord. We have to smooth out and make level the hills and valleys, and straighten out the bends and curves in our pathway of life. We have to remove the boulders and obstacles that are in our path on our journey to receive God into our living and life. Pope St. Leo the Great said it this way: “The Lord’s way to our heart is made straight when we listen humbly to the words of Truth; when we live in accordance to His precept. Whoever lifts up his heart in pride, or is filled with avaricious zeal, or defiles himself with the iniquities of a dissipated life, shuts the door of his heart against Truth so that the Lord [Jesus] cannot come in.”

St. Paul in today’s 2^nd reading says, we are called to be made “perfect in holiness;” To “be preserved whole and entire, spirit, soul and body, irreproachable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

These are the preparations we are called to make and must make in order to be ready to receive Jesus, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Savior; the Gift of the Ages. Yes, we make ready to celebrate Christmas, the memorial of Jesus’ birth over 2000 years ago, but, at the same time, we must also prepare and make ready, as we look forward to his coming again in glory at the end of time. This is what Jesus promised us, that he would come again one day in glory to draw unto himself, for all eternity, all who have prepared themselves to receive him into their lives. This then, is Jesus’ gift to us – the hope of eternal life to those who would receive it.

Thus, as we look back and come to realize the true meaning of Christ’s birth 2000 years ago, and its effect on us today, we cannot help but await this celebration in joyful anticipation, and must echo the words of Isaiah the Prophet in the 1^st reading: “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice.”

As we look forward to the promise of Christ, we must join with our Mother Mary in the words of her Magnificate, that we hear in today’s Responsorial Psalm, and joyfully say, for all the world to hear: “God who is mighty has done great things for me, holy is His name; His mercy is from age to age on those who fear him;” that is, those who fear losing their relationship with the Lord.