December 16, 2012, 3rd Sunday of Advent
1st reading from Zephaniah
Sing and shout for joy, people of Israel! Rejoice with all
your heart, Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you. He has
turned away your enemies. The Lord, the King of Israel, is in your midst; there
is no reason now to be afraid. The time is coming when they will say to
Jerusalem, “Do not be afraid, city of Zion! Do not
be discouraged! The Lord, your God, is with you; his power gives you victory. The
Lord will take delight in you, and in his love He will give you new life. H e
will sing and be joyful over you, as joyful as people at a festival.”
2nd reading
from Philippians
Brothers
and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice! Show a gentle
attitude toward all. The Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, but
in your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful
heart. Then the peace of God which surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory
to you, Lord.
Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered
them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but One mightier than I is
coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his
threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable
fire.” Exhorting them in many other ways, John preached good news to the people.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
----------------
----------------
Introduction
The beginning of winter
This coming Friday, Dec.
21st 2012, 7:11 AM EST is the beginning of winter in the Northern
Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. A chart in Old Farmers' Almanac shows that in our
Northern Hemisphere the period between Dec. 17th (tomorrow) and 25th
as the darkest of the entire year. Those days have 15 long hours of darkness
and only 9 short hours of light. Then on Dec. 25th, the birthday of
the Lord, the sun begins its journey back to us in the Northern Hemisphere. The
darkness starts to diminish. The light begins to grow, until it attains its
full radiance and splendor on June 21st (the beginning of summer). The great O
Antiphon for Dec. 21st (this coming Friday) begins with the
words: O Oriens! – Oh Bright-breaking Dawn:
Oh Bright-breaking Dawn from heaven, Oh Radiance
of Light Eternal and warm Sun of Justice, come and shine upon
those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
Gaudete
Sunday
In
the first reading the prophet Zephaniah speaking
to a group of refugees in a slum
district of Jerusalem, commands the people to rejoice: “Sing
and shout for joy, people of Israel! Rejoice with all your heart, Jerusalem! The
Lord, the King of Israel, is in your midst!” (Zeph.
3:14‑15) And in the second reading St. Paul, sitting
in prison and bound with chains, commands the Philippians to rejoice: “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice! The Lord is
near!” (Phil. 4:4-5)
The Introit (the opening words) of the old Latin Mass for the 3rd
Sunday of Advent was “Gaudete semper in Domino! Iterum dico
gaudete!”(“Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice!”) In the course of
time, the 3rd Sunday of Advent came to be called Gaudete Sunday, and the color of the
priest’s vestments for that Sunday was not `penitential purple’ but `joyful
rose.’ Even the color of the 3rd candle on the Advent wreath was
`joyful rose’ on Gaudete Sunday.
Before Vatican II, Advent like
Lent was a strictly penitential season; it forbad all feasting, partying and decorating before Dec. 24. So in
those days it was natural for us to rejoice on the 3rd Sunday of
Advent, not so much because of St. Paul’s announcement that “The Lord is
near!,” but because we were more than halfway through the penitential season of
Advent. And soon we’d be able to intoxicate ourselves with the sounds, scenes
and scents of Christmas.
A command to rejoice!
Is it possible to
command joy or any other emotion? The prophet Zephaniah thinks it’s possible. Speaking
to a group of poor refugees in a slum
district of Jerusalem, he does not merely recommend joy, he commands it: “Sing and shout for joy, people of Israel! Rejoice with all your heart,
Jerusalem! The Lord, the King of Israel, is in your midst.” (Zeph. 3:14, 17)
Zephaniah commands the people to rejoice, despite their circumstance. And Paul, too, sitting in prison and bound
with chains, does not merely recommend
joy; he commands it. In Philippians
he writes: “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say, rejoice! The Lord is
near." (Phil. 4:5) Paul commands the people to rejoice, despite his
dire circumstance.
Fr. Delp’s diary entry for
Gaudete Sunday
Despite his dire circumstance German Jesuit Fr. Alfred Delp rejoiced.
Delp was an outspoken opponent of the Nazis, and helped Jews to escape from
Germany. He was arrested after being falsely accused of being party to a plot to
assassinate Hitler. His involvement in a movement to make Germany a truly
Christian nation was enough to have him convicted and sentenced to death. Father Delp was executed by Hitler on February 2, 1945.
Like St. Paul sitting
in prison and bound with chains, he wrote in his diary for Gaudete
Sunday, 1944:
How is it possible to rejoice in a prison cell (a
space of three paces in each direction)? How is it possible to rejoice when
your hands are fettered, and your heart is overwhelmed with longings, and your
head is filled with problems and worries? Yes, happiness can happen even under these circumstances. I tell you
every now and then my heart can scarcely contain the delirious joy that's in
it. Suddenly, not knowing why, my spirits soar and there is no doubt in my mind
that all the promises[1] hold good. That, of course, could be an unconscious defense mechanism against my depression.
But not always. Sometimes it’s due to a wonderful premonition of wonderful
things to come. (Prison Meditations of Fr. Alfred Delp)
You millions impacted by Hurricane Sandy,
rejoice!
On Gaudete Sunday Fr. Delp asks: “How is it possible to rejoice in a
prison cell - a space of three paces in each direction?” On this Gaudete Sunday millions of people impacted
by Hurricane Sandy are asking the very same question: “How is it possible to
rejoice this Gaudete Sunday 2012?”On Oct. 29 and 30 Hurricane Sandy brutally
battered the mid-Atlantic region of the United States for over two days. It
caused the deaths of more than 80 people in the States, including 41 people in
New York City alone. The monetary loss from Hurricane Sandy is estimated to be
$50 billion. The estimated dollar value
of lost business activity as a result of Sandy is estimated to be $25 billon.
On this Gaudete Sunday 2012, how can
we (how dare we) command: “You millions impacted by Hurricane Sandy, rejoice!” Zephaniah dared to command refugees in a slum district of Jerusalem to rejoice. St. Paul, sitting prison and bound by
chains, dared to command the Philippians and himself as well to rejoice. And on
this Gaudete Sunday 2012 we dare to
command the millions impacted by Sandy to rejoice.
And on a different
level, on this Gaudete Sunday 2012 how
can we (how dare we) command someone to rejoice, when he or she has just
received a chilling report from the doctor? Or on this Gaudete
Sunday how can we (how dare we) command someone to rejoice, when he or she
has lost a partner of 30, 40, 50 years? Or on this Gaudete Sunday how can we (how dare we) command someone to rejoice,
when he or she has suffered some tragedy or irreversible loss? And yes even
this: on this Gaudete Sunday how can
we (how dare we) command someone to rejoice, when he or she has had to put to
sleep a very beloved dog, which showed what unconditional love looks like.
Addressed not to the glad but to the sad
Advent’s Gaudete command
to rejoice is addressed not to the glad but to the sad. The glad need no command
to rejoice; it’s the sad who need it. People who have money to buy all things
they want or need for Christmas, or who enjoy good health, or who have won the lottery, etc., need no command to rejoice; rejoicing
comes automatically. The Gaudete command of the 3rd Sunday of
Advent is addressed first and foremost to the sad. Zephaniah’s Gaudete is addressed to sad refugees in a slum district of Jerusalem. St.
Paul’s Gaudete is addressed, first
and foremost, to his sad self sitting in prison and bound with chains.
Joy: an inside, outside and mystic job
Joy is partly an inside job; that is to say, it’s a personal decision not to get stuck in our losses, mistakes, diminutions or tragedies. To evoke the climate
of December, joy is a decision not to be snowbound by self-pity or useless
regret or unavailing grief or relentless anger. Joy is a decision not to be
snowbound either by unlucky birth or unlucky circumstances.
Sometimes
joy is a mystic job. Fr. Delp sitting
in prison and bound in chains writes, “My heart can scarcely contain the delirious joy that's in it.” His joy was
truly a mystic job.
Conclusion
Oh Rosy
candle burning brightly
Oh rosy candle
burning brightly before us today,
we hear you: “Joy is an inside job!”
That is to say, it
is a personal decision not to be
snowbound
by self-pity or useless regret or unavailing
grief or relentless anger.
Oh rosy candle
burning brightly before us today,
we hear you: “Joy
is also an outside job!”
That is to say, it
is also outside the reach of personal decision,
as it depends on
`being born right.’
we hear you: “Joy every
now and then is a mystic job!”
That was the joy of
Fr. Delp who could scarcely contain
the joy he felt on Gaudete Sunday.
His joy was pure
gift, and it’s given to whom it’s given.
[1] One of
those promises is ”Blessed are they who suffer persecution, they shall be
comforted.”
