Gaudete Sunday
There is so much in this Sunday’s gospel that should give us pause for reflection. Among them is the humility of John the Baptist to declare that he is unworthy to untie the sandal straps of Jesus. And there is the clear description of the time of judgment when the wheat will be will be gathered in the barn but the chaff will be burn in an unquenchable fire. And then there is the attestation that John preached good news to the people – the good news of the coming of our Lord.
Yet, the one phrase that challenges me the most is the question asked of John the Baptist three times by the crowd, by the tax collectors and by the soldiers: “What should we do?”
His answer was not earth shattering, not impossible to achieve. To the crowd he said: you have two coats, give one to someone without one; give your surplus food to those who are hungry; share your blessings, show mercy. To the tax collectors he said: take nothing more than is required by law; be honest and fair, show mercy. To the soldiers he said: do not be bullies or falsely accuse; do not abuse your power, show mercy.
What should they do, what should we do? The answer is to live good moral and ethical lives. Or as the theme of this Jubilee Year of Mercy frames it so well: be merciful as the Father is merciful. John the Baptist did not ask them to try to become people they could not be, though it would require change. He called them to become the very best selves they could be; living witnesses of God’s love and presence. We are challenged in the same way to be the very best we can be, living proclamations of Christ’s love and mercy, whatever our work or place or crosses.
St. Paul’s answer to what should we do is to rejoice in the Lord always. When we are joyful in the Lord, we gain perspective, the strength to be living proclamations of Christ’s love. Too often the pressures of the culture or our own expectations separate us from seeing the beauty and blessings in our lives.
Some years ago I was at the mall doing Christmas shopping and in a hurry, trying to move quickly amidst the crowd. The number of shoppers made that impossible and I became anxious.” Let’s get moving people,” I thought. I have a lot to do. Then I noticed the family walking in front of me moving so slowly. There was a young one in a stroller bouncing up and down. Another small child was pulling on the father’s hand pointing in different directions. Both were excited, both had big smiles. They reminded me of the joy that should be part of this season. I was ashamed of my self-centered impatience. Children with their great simplicity anticipate the coming of the Lord at Christmas and so should we. Joy to the world, the Lord is coming, should be our song.
Another step in becoming the very best we can be, living with joy this time of year is to keep gift-giving in perspective. Giving gifts as a sign of our love and appreciation is a beautiful part of the season. Yet for some it is a source of anxiety. Some agonize over it; others agonize over how they can give the hint on what they really want. Giving and receiving should bring joy.
I read about a family in the military that was transferred to Spain in December. The mother of two was seven months pregnant. They packed up all their belongings including what would be needed for the new baby and shipped it all overseas. When the family reached Spain they discovered that their permanent housing was not yet available. Then they learned that their luggage, including most of their clothes, was lost in transit. To top it off the mother went into premature labor and gave birth unexpectedly to twins. She wrote that she had never felt so overwhelmed and alone in her life. Then the word got out in the local Spanish community. Suddenly clothes and other items started to appear. A man stopped by and said that he and his wife had lost twins in childbirth, and wanted to share with her two cribs that were meant for their own. That family felt real joy that Christmas because the gifts were given not out of obligation but out of love and concern, by strangers being the best they could be. The gift we all receive at Christmas that of the Christ child should bring us a joy that we want to share Pope Francis in declaring this jubilee year prayed that “touched by God’s compassion we can become compassionate toward others.”
Finally, what we should do to become the very best we can be, is be reconciled with our God and one another, especially our families and friends. Someone wrote that “friendships are fragile things and require as much care in handling as other fragile and precious things”. Sometimes we are careless and we break them, with our tongue, our action or our neglect. Through the sacrament of penance we are given the grace and the power to be forgiven and to restore those relationships which reflect our relationship with God
There are many opportunities for receiving the sacrament of penance, confession here in this Cathedral or other parishes this Advent and throughout the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
Our faith in Christ’s promises and Christ’s presence make it possible for us to be the very best we can be and live our lives with joy because we know that Christ has already conquered the down side of the world. We will soon focus on the stable and his birth in Bethlehem, but in the background is Jerusalem and the cross which lead to the empty tomb and his resurrection. He was born, died and rose out of love for us. St. Julian of Norwich wrote: “the greatest honor you can give to God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.”
What should we do? John the Baptist tells us to repent and become the very best we can be by living lives of integrity. St. Paul answers: knowing of his love, rejoice in the Lord always. To do so requires us to change and to trust. When we do we can even in the midst of a world of worry, sing with the prophet Zephaniah in our first reading: “fear not, be not discouraged, the Lord your God is in your midst.”