Rejoice, the Lord is near

The Sunday Gospel

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.”

This is the entrance antiphon for the Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday, a day to rejoice.

I am intrigued by the prominence of the letter ‘w’ in Advent…winter, wonder, wilderness, waiting and the womb of Mary.

As we come closer to Christmas we are waiting. Mary too was waiting while the child in her womb was growing. Waiting can be experienced as time stolen or time given. Time stolen can make us impatient, anxious, fearful, agitated or angry as in road-rage.

God is coming to us each day, reaching out to us with life, light and love”

Time given is an opportunity for excitement to grow as the song popularised by Mario Lanza put it, “like a child when a birthday is near”. Patience does not come easily to us today, spoiled as we are by instant light or heat at the flick of a switch, instant communication with a faraway continent, instant tablets for the relief of pain. St James, in today’s second reading tells us to be patient until the Lord’s coming. Think how the farmer has to wait patiently for the seeds he has sown to produce fruit.

Carlo Carretto wrote a book entitled The God Who Comes. God is coming to us each day, reaching out to us with life, light and love. Our Advent prophets, Isaiah and John the Baptist, reminded the people of their day that God had not deserted them. Isaiah kept hope alive for a nation in forced exile. “Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, ‘Courage! Do not be afraid’. Look your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of God: he is coming to save you.”

Retribution and vengeance: these are dirty words. There are two ways of facing the evils of the world, the apocalyptic approach or the prophetic attitude. The apocalyptic voice says that things are so bad that God will wreak vengeance and people will pay for it (retribution). But what is Isaiah’s idea of retribution? “He is coming to save you.” God’s way of retribution is to destroy sin by the conversion of the sinner. The task of the prophet is to unveil the presence of God even in the difficult time when it seems that evil has conquered.

John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Indeed, the name Jesus means one who saves. After confronting King Herod for taking the wife of his brother, John was imprisoned in Machaerus, a fortress on a high mountain. It must have been a frustrating time for a man accustomed to open spaces, fresh air and food supplied by nature. Now he wanted assurance that Jesus really was the Someone-is-Coming he had promised. He sent some friends to clarify the issue. “Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?” Jesus let his actions speak for themselves. He was fulfilling what Isaiah had promised. “The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer…everlasting joy on their faces; joy and gladness will go with them and sorrow and lament be ended.” Inspired by these readings, today is called Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of Joy. Hope in times of darkness is the great virtue of Advent and joy is the daughter of hope.

Pontificate

The first major document of any pope is regarded as an indication of what his pontificate will bring. Pope Francis began with an apostolic exhortation entitled The Joy of the Gospel. “The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.” He warns of the danger posed by consumerism with its must-have advertising, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this moment to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them. No one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.”

St Paul VI also wrote about Christian joy. He identified three steps to joy, namely, giving, seeing and believing.

Giving…for it is in giving that we receive and God loves the cheerful giver.

In one location the lighting was very poor but she persuaded the team to continue”

Seeing…having eyes that see what is beautiful and wonderful.

Believing…what a beautiful religion we have with the teaching of Jesus Christ, his presence in the Blessed Eucharist, divine mercy, the power of the Holy Spirit. And, the Good News of the Resurrection.

The great saint of our time surely was Mother Teresa of Kolcata. Her work was revealed to the world by a television film produced by Malcom Muggeridge. He experienced a little miracle while filming. In one location the lighting was very poor but she persuaded the team to continue. Guess what…this episode outshone every other scene in the film! In his book, Something Beautiful for God, Muggeridge wrote about her joy.

“Joy is prayer – joy is strength – joy is love – joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. He or she gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show gratitude to God is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen.”

Advent is a time of joyful waiting…waiting in hope for Someone-is-Coming. Advent’s hope is the mother of joy.

“Rejoice in the Lord, rejoice. Again I say ‘Rejoice’. The Lord is near” (Phil. 4: 4-5).