3rd Sunday of Advent: Celebrating the Joy of Christmas

(For an audio version of this reflection, click here.)

For most of us, Christmas is the happiest time of the year. As early as September, we feel a profound feeling of joy.

But the sad reality of our lives, continue to dampen the joy of Christmas. Especially this year, because of the pandemic, many lost their jobs, many are hungry, homeless and abandoned. Many are worried and uncertain about the future, not to mention the continuous inequality, injustice, oppression and violence inflicted upon the poor and powerless. Thus, for many people, to celebrate Christmas is a tough challenge. As Redemptorist Fr. Oli Castor sings,

‘How can I possibly sing a joyous Christmas song when there’s so many people who know not where they belong?’

Every year, Christmas is becoming tougher and tougher a challenge. How can we celebrate the joy of Christmas amidst the suffering, agony and uncertainty of our lives? The saddest thing to happen is to experience sadness and despair during Christimas. Erasing joy out of Christmas is, indeed, one of the greatest misery of our lives.

Today’s third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. The word for rejoice in Latin is gaudete. The Church boldly exhort people on this Gaudete Sunday, ready or not, to rejoice. The joy that the church exhort the people is not, however, cheap and superficial joy.  It is not an escapist joy that numbs us and forgets all about the pain and sorrow in this life.

The joy of Christmas, which is rooted in God who dwelt amongst us, is not the fleeting joy that serves as an escape from the sad reality of our lives, which sadly has been the scourge for many of our people come every Christmas. It is rather the profound joy borne out of God’s immersion into the messiest and muddiest experiences of our humanity.

The readings of today’s Gaudete Sunday elaborates on this Christmas joy. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah had a taste of this most profound joy as he exclaimed, “I rejoice heartily in the Lord,” And what are the elements of this most joyous of all joys? The prophet announces the glad tidings:

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God.

The glad tidings that the prophet proclaimed are acts of liberation which God will accomplish among his people.  This fulfillment happened when God came down from heaven and became man. Indeed, Jesus quoted this particular verse from Isaiah and made it as his own mission statement at the beginning of his public ministry (Luke 4:14-21). Jesus’ inaugural mission address in his hometown synagogue is, therefore, the source of our greatest joy. Our greatest joy which in Advent we earnestly looks forwards to is the liberating mission of God which Jesus inaugurated and enacted during his life on earth. The final fulfillment of Jesus’ mission which is our greatest joy will happen upon Jesus’ return in glory.

In the gospel today, John the Baptist appeared to the people as a sign. John the Baptist told the people that he is not the light but he is only pointing them toward the light who will be here soon. The gospel of John narrates,

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.

We can truly experience the joy of Christmas if we become like John the Baptist. We can become like John the Baptist only if we have the humility to accept that we are not the light. We are merely signs that points towards the light. A sign is simply an object that points to something else greater than itself. As signs, we fulfill our lives by pointing to the greatest mystery of God’s kingdom unfolding in our everyday lives. As signs, we offer our lives for the greater joy of those we love and for a greater cause other than ourselves.

St. Paul sums it for us,

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God”

(Philippians 4:4–6; Psalm 85: 1).

3rd Sunday of Advent: From Wordly Joy to Divine Joy

There’s always a different feeling whenever the Christmas season starts. It evokes an indescribable feeling of profound joy, excitement and longing.

Indeed, Christmas is the season of joy. It is the season of festivities: Christmas parties, eating, drinking, exchange gifts, Christmas carols, family reunions, etc. All these celebrations and rejoicing give us plenty of joys, even if fleeting, to escape and forget the pain and sorrow in life.

There is a far greater joy in Christmas, however, than all our wordly joys.  Christmas is the sublime event when God’s joy entered into our joys. In order to fully experience the joy of Christmas we need to give way to God’s joy or to elevate our joys into divine joy.  The joy of God must increase and the joy of the world must decrease. Our joys must give way to the biggest joy – the coming of our saviour Jesus Christ. As in one of my most well-loved Christmas Carols, Joy to the World!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing

This third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday.  Gaudete is Latin word for rejoice. Gaudete Sunday invites us to partake with divine joy as God became one among us. The readings for this 3rd Sunday of Advent describes for us the meaning of divine joy.

In the First Reading, the prophet Isaiah prophesy about the joy when the Messiah comes:

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
they will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.

In the Gospel Reading, when John the Baptist in captivity sends his disciples to ask Jesus whether Jesus is the one the Israelites have been waiting for, Jesus says they should tell John what they hear and see:

the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.

Christmas is the profound event when our joys are wedded to God’s joy, as the song goes, “when heaven and nature sing.” We elevate our wordly joys into divine joy when we truly experience God’s immersion into the messiest and muddiest experiences of our humanity. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Christmas is not the time to escape and forget our pains and sorrows but rather to confront and find God in the dirtiest and messiest of our realities. Christmas is the time to experience Jesus’ liberation from our captivities and live with joy at our being released from our fears, blindness, deafness and leprosy.

The coming of the Lord is both exciting and demanding. We are all in captivity to the familiar, to our ways, to our expectations.  Jesus is changing, rearranging us, our values, our ways of seeing, listening, living. Christmas joy is the Lord Jesus Christ walking with us as we take small and steady steps in reforming our lives and transforming the world we live in.

 

3rd Sunday of Advent: The Real Joy of Christmas

Christmas is the season of joy. It is about the joy of the coming of the Lord among us. As in one of my most well-loved Christmas Carols, Joy to the World!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing

The readings for this 3rd Sunday of Advent are all about joy. St. Paul in the Second Reading commends the Philippians:

“Brothers and sisters: rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again, rejoice.”

The word for rejoice in Latin is gaudete. Thus, this Sunday is called Gaudete Sunday.

The Church boldly  exhort people on this Gaudete Sunday, ready or not, to rejoice. The joy that the church exhort the people is not, however, cheap and superficial joy.  It is not an escapist joy that numbs us and forgets all about the pain and sorrow in this life. As the song of Redemptorist Fr. Oli Castor goes,

How can I possibly sing a joyous Christmas song
when there’s so many people who know not where they belong

The joy of Christmas is not the fleeting joy that serves as an escape from the sad reality of our lives, which sadly has been the scourge for many of our people come every Christmas. It is rather the profound joy borne out of God’s immersion into the messiest and muddiest experiences of our humanity.

The readings also speaks of joy but not the shallow and cheap joy. In the first reading, from the prophet Zephaniah, the part we read this Sunday comes from a hymn celebrating the survival of the faithful remnant, a passage that commentators judge was added after the Babylonian Captivity. It is sung, therefore, by a group that has passed through tough times. In the midst of those difficulties they have come to know the presence of God so vividly that they can picture that the Lord “will sing joyfully … as one sings at festivals.” How did they get to be rejoicing survivors? In an earlier chapter the prophet had said,

Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,
who have observed his law;
Seek justice, seek humility;
perhaps you may be sheltered
on the day of the Lord’s anger (Zeph 2:3).

In the Second Reading, when Paul exhorts the Philippians to rejoice, he is in a captivity of his own, in Roman custody. Like others who have been able to deal prayerfully with the enforced solitude of incarceration, he is able to urge rejoicing on much the same basis as Zephaniah’s surviving Judahites: he has come to know the presence of the Lord. It is not wishful thinking but personal testimony that stands behind his pep talk:

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

In the gospel, the crowds John encountered in the desert had, themselves, little reason for joy about the happenings in their lives during that time. Yet they share a joyous and hopeful expectation of the coming of the Messiah who will deliver them from their lethargy and gloom. The people in long rows, gathering to be baptized in the wilderness, was expecting the Savior who is to come. In this context of joyful expectation, John exhorts the people to take concrete small steps towards making changes in their lives and the actual situation. The work for a better world is preparation for the coming of Christ. It is also a sign that the coming of Christ is near.  Each segment (the crowd, the tax collectors, the soldiers) asked John the Baptist the question: “Teacher, what should we do?”

He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”

Rita Ferrone notes that Pope Francis echoed this passage in his address to 2014 Collegeville Conference on Liturgy, Music, and the Arts:

The crowds asked Pope Francis, “What then should we do?” To the pastors he said “Get out of the sacristy! Go and be with your people; smell like your sheep!” To the wealthy nations he said, “Give up your trickle down economic theories! Address the injustices that hold the poor in bondage.” To the religious he said “Answer the questions of the CDF,* but don’t let their investigations dismay you. Continue in your ministry!” [1]

Christmas is a season of joy borne out of the coming of the Lord in our midst. The coming of the Lord is both exciting and demanding. Christmas joy is the Lord Jesus Christ walking with us as we take small and steady steps in reforming our lives and transforming the world we live in.

Before Christmas, what little change can we make within ourselves and in our family, workplace and community we belong?

 

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[1] July 7, 2014, Rita Ferrone, Church Reform, Pope Francis

 

3rd Sunday of Advent: Journeying Towards the Greatest Joy

For most Christians, this time of the year is the happiest time of the year. As the song, Deck The Halls, goes, ‘Tis the season to be jolly, Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.’

But in real life, many are poor, victims of injustice and violence, broken-hearted, captives and prisoners literally and figuratively. Thus, for many people, this is a time of depression, not of joy.  As fellow Redemptorist Fr. Oli Castor sings, ‘How can I possibly sing a joyous Christmas song when there’s so many people who know not where they belong?’

Depending on one’s circumstances, Christmas can be the celebration of joy or the sad reminder of the pains and afflictions of our lives. But even the joys we experience in Christmas are just faint reflection of how much greater joy that awaits us in the future. Christmas joys are signs or foretaste of the greatest joy that we can ever imagine. Christmas joys only point to the most joyous of all joys. Christmas joys are just a rehearsal of the much greater joy that is still to come in the fullness of time.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah had a taste of this most profound joy as he exclaimed, “I rejoice heartily in the Lord,” And what are the elements of this most joyous of all joys? The prophet announces the glad tidings:

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God.

The glad tidings that the prophet proclaimed are acts of liberation which God will accomplish among his people.  This fulfillment happened when God came down from heaven and became man. Indeed, Jesus quoted this particular verse from Isaiah and made it as his own mission statement at the beginning of his public ministry (Luke 4:14-21). Jesus’ inaugural mission address in his hometown synagogue is, therefore, the source of our greatest joy. Our greatest joy which in Advent we earnestly looks forwards to is the liberating mission of God which Jesus inaugurated and enacted during his life on earth. The final fulfillment of Jesus’ mission which is our greatest joy will happen upon Jesus’ return in glory.

In the gospel today, John the Baptist appeared to the people as a sign. John the Baptist told the people that he is not the light but he is only pointing them toward the light who will be here soon. The gospel of John narrates,

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.

We can truly experience the joy of Christmas if we become like John the Baptist. We can become like John the Baptist only if we have the humility to accept that we are not the light. We are merely signs that points towards the light. A sign is simply an object that points to something else greater than itself. As signs, we fulfill our lives by pointing to the greatest mystery of God’s kingdom unfolding in our everyday lives. As signs, we offer our lives for the greater joy of those we love and for a greater cause other than ourselves.

On this third Sunday of Advent called Gaudete (which means “Rejoice”) Sunday, we are reminded by the Church that ’tis the season to be jolly. Indeed, the joy which originated from the “word who was made flesh and dwelt among us” is truly the reason of the season. It is the same joy which emanates from the liberating acts of God which Jesus inaugurated and enacted throughout his public ministry.

It is, therefore, not the fleeting joy that serves as an escape from the sad reality of our lives, which sadly has been the scourge for many of our people come every Christmas. It is rather the profound joy borne out of God’s immersion into the messiest and muddiest experiences of our humanity. It is the joy that audaciously emits hope that make us defiant and relentless by not surrendering to all forms of oppression and captivity in this world. It is the joy which makes us existentially uneasy about the here and now. It is the joy which gives us a foretaste of the greatest joy that is still to come.

St. Paul sums it for us,

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God” (Philippians 4:4–6; Psalm 85: 1).