THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT - YEAR C

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT – YEAR C (Zephaniah 3:14-17; Phil 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18) Theme: “God-in-us” is the cause and the motive of our Joy Reflection: Let us rejoice for God visits us always - Sunday of the ‘Gaudete’ - the Sunday of Joy: We have entered into the Third Sunday of Advent and the Church invites us to celebrate it as the Sunday of Joy. The preparation for the celebration of the Great Feast of God’s visit to the world and to the humanity is not a preparation with the heavy hearts and sorrowful souls. No, God wills to be with us and with every one of us is the reason which causes infinite joy in us. Our God is not someone who is very distant to us. He is the God of history and of salvation. He imprints the world with his revelation in various modes. In the history of Israel, He manifested himself as the God who appeared to them in the different forms and who spoke to them through number of His “chosen and sent” personages: be it patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets. These special and selected people stood amidst the chosen people in His Name and in His Word. They have demonstrated God’s presence in and for the people. God never abandons his people. The history reveals it and the people of Israel testify it. God wants still more. He loves his people so much that He cannot but stay with them. His relationship and His bond with them is ever lasting and ever faithful. His immense love causes him to be with the humanity in the human nature. His love, which crosses the boundaries of any kind, makes Him to come down to share it with the humanity “being with it and taking its life”. He promised it already in his Law and the Prophets. He waits for the appointed time and the time has come to fulfill this promise. He descends to the world. He reaches man, his beloved creature. He desires to save him by his own life. He finally becomes Immanuel: God with us. What more we need to rejoice. Our God visits us always. His eyes are upon us in every moment. His hand is for us in every instance. His love for us in every situation. The Church reminds us the visit of God in the history and time for the redemption of humanity and calls us to be joyful and rejoicing for His Ever Remaining Presence with us. - “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4): We find this beautiful exclamation and exhortation in the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians. We have to keep in mind the background of the Letter. Paul was in the prison. From the prison he writes to his people the message of joy. What is the force behind that made him to speak of joy even from the imprisonment? It is the force of Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit of the Risen Lord. He does not ask the people for their prayers so that his stay in the prison comes to an end. He suffers. His pain is intolerable. His is blocked to proclaim the good news of life. He does not complain. He does not accuse anybody for his condition. He does not blame God or Jesus for the sufferings he undergoes. Even from pain he extends warmth love. He knows well and he believes that “nothing can separate him from the love of Christ”. He carries in his heart the hope that “the tribulation, the anguish, the persecution, the hunger, the nudity, the danger, the sword” (Rom 8:35) cannot do any harm to him; they cannot break the loving bond he has with the Christ. Such is the faith and hope that Paul has in His Lord. This made him to be courageous and to proclaim the message of joy. He says that we need to rejoice. Not for few moments and but forever, for always. It is possible because we rejoice not in some strange and foreign force but in the Lord, in the Lord in whom we live, move and have our being. Yes, indeed, we have every reason to rejoice. We have the Savior with us. We have the Spirit by us. We have the Love of God in us. All other forces, be it scholastic, scientific and technological, may give us some joy but soon it will have its end. The only joy that remains for times never ending is “the Joy of the Lord”. It is this joy we need to have. It is this joy we need to live. Finally, it is this joy we need to share. Readings: “He will baptize you in Spirit and in Fire” - Advent of the Day of the Joy “in Spirit”: John the Baptist proclaims the coming of Someone who would fill the world with the Spirit of Joy. His is very clear in his mission of pointing to the advent of the Savior. Already in Luca there is a integral message of God’s presence for the poor and needy. God reveals his love and mercy to those who are humble of heart (Luke 1:46-55 – Mary sings the marvelous deeds of God for those who remain faithful and humble to him; 2:1-20 – The manifestation of the birth of the Messiah, first of all, to the poor shepherds; 5:12-31 – Jesus heals the disable and elects as a disciple a sinner called Levi and thus he takes the side of rejected and untouchables; 6:20-26 – Jesus’ proclamation of the beatitudes and God’s promise of consolation for those who are last and least of the society). These and many more of such references bring out the message that God wants to see the joy in the face of every human being who is depressed and discouraged. The presence of Jesus and his power of miraculous healings and his mission of saving the world is proclaimed by John the Baptist when he say that “I baptize you with the water; but there is someone who comes after me, (…). He will baptize in Spirit and in fire.” - Spirit is the source of life and the fire is the symbol of renewal and purification. Baptism of the water which John was exercising is the symbol of God’s deliverance of his people through the waters of red sea from the power of Egyptian slavery. It was the first step and sign for the Covenant that God made with his people. The baptism of the Spirit which Jesus would give is the symbol of God’s love for his people so that they would be saved from the power of sin and death. It is the sign of the Eternal Covenant that God wishes to make with entire humanity in His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, true advent of the Spirit is in and through God’s own beloved “Word made Flesh”. He comes down to be with his people and to fill them with Joy. The first indication after the birth of the Savior would be this: Angels sings with joy and the shepherds visit the stall and are filled with the joy. - Salvation is offered to all: John’s presence and proclamation indicate two events. First of all, he is only the one who prepares the way and secondly, he already reveals the truth that salvation is for all. o As Jesus appears, John disappears slowly: The predication of John is not for himself or for his personal name and fame. He is not here to manifest himself. His life is not for speaking on his own behalf. His mission is only to prepare the way for the Messiah and to show him to the world as the bringer of salvation to all by “taking away the sins of the world”. John’s mission exists and extends until he indicates the “Lamb of God” to the humanity. Thus, he is the messenger who prepares the day of the Coming of the Lord Jesus and he proclaims it on the right day: “the one who comes after me is stronger than me” (Lk 3:16). In fact, people were expecting for a redeemer. They were awaiting him. When the John the Baptist appeared preaching and baptizing and calling people to the life of conversion, people thought that he was the messiah; with the curiosity they asked him whether he himself is the messiah (Lk 3:15). o Salvation is placed at everyone’s door: With his gestures of admonishing the various groups of people, John predicts that Joy of salvation is at everyone’s reach. All sects of people were flocking to John for the baptism and for the conversion of life. Among them, there are common people, there are sinners and there are soldiers. They come and ask him what has to be done for having salvation: “what have we to do” is the question that each one poses to John. John on his part asks them just one thing: to be aware of their duties and to do them with the sincerity of the heart. Nothing more. Enough of completing one’s responsibility with the good will: Salvation will embrace him. It does not matter what kind of section of the society he belong to. Only thing that matter is “to fulfill one’s vocation”. By this the message is clear: salvation, good news of joy, is not reserved for the elected people alone but is offered to all who live and act with justice and charity. It will be manifested ultimately in the person of Jesus Christ. His presence and attitude towards sinners, tax collectors and marginalized reveal that anyone can receive the salvation (Luke 7:1-10, 36-50; 17:11-19; 18:9-14). He proclaims that the Kingdom of God is opened to all and it is already amidst them in his person. Salvation makes one part of the kingdom. Therefore, there is a close relation between the coming of the kingdom and coming of the salvation. Jesus inaugurates it and extends it to entire humanity by his own offering on the cross. This kingdom of God and His salvation are nothing but the peace, love and joy in the Holy Spirit and Paul announces it (Rom 14:17). Conclusion: Our joy must be like a perfume that widens its good smell - Not the pain, we need to share the joy: Today, we are invited to learn and take up two attitudes. First, we need to share our joy with others. Many times we bother ourselves and others by pouring out our difficulties and our pains, our sorrows and our sufferings. But our Christian attitude is to be different: share only the joy, the peace and the happiness. Our Christian life is like a perfume. The nature of the perfume is to reach out and to spread its fragrance to others. It cannot hide itself. It cannot close itself. Christian life is also the same. Our life is not only for ourselves. We cannot close ourselves inside our four walls. We need to move out. We need to open the door of our life. We need to break our barriers of personal life. Our life is for others. Christ did not live even for moment for his self-esteem and self-glory. His life is always for others. We stayed with them. He ate with them. He lived for them. Finally, He died for them. He took the pain of others to himself. He took their place. His glory spread also to them all. He is our source and our force to live for others. The meaning of Christian life is only “sharing of our life”. For this first of all we have to receive the joy offered to us. In every prayers and in every sacramental celebration the grace and salvation is given us. We have every possibility to be filled with the Joy of the Spirit if only we avail ourselves for the action of Jesus. Once we are filled with joy of salvation, we do not remain closed and for ourselves. We reach out to others. Our life becomes an alter of sacrifice and love for others. This is what the message of God’s word invite us to learn. - Not ourselves, we need to place Jesus in front: John the Baptist is the personality of our reflection also for this week. People thought of him as the Messiah. He did not take their thoughts and words for his benefit. He did not enjoy their comments. He did not misuse their misunderstanding. It is because he knew and discerned well his mission: to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. He gave the preference and priority for the vocation that God has given him. He lived for fulfilling God’s will. Today, the invitation is thrown to us to learn from the mission of John the Baptist. We have to give up the tendency of placing ourselves in front. With this temptation we often push back our profession of faith and lose hope and give up the act of love. At this juncture we lose the significance of life and we face distress and distrust. Advent is the time to return to our roots and renew our life. Like John the Baptist, we have to learn to be aware of our Christian dignity and task. Let us place Jesus in front of everything in life. Let us allow him to work in and through us. Only then we will receive the fullness of salvation. Our life will be filled with joy. We become joyful and we share this joy to the world around us.