Dec. 14, 2008: Third Sunday of Advent (B)
The other day I was writing a Christmas card with the word ‘Joy’ written on the front. On this card, a bright star was near the top and beneath rays of the star stood three shepherds with some cute sheep. I wondered what really that word ‘Joy’ meant. Is joy mean being happy? Well, I looked it up. The Latin root word for ‘joy’ was ‘Gaudium’, and the definition was, “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, good fortune, or prospect of possessing what one desires.” I think the folks at Merriam-Webster forgot to tweak this definition to include few other things that makes us joyful. For one thing, there is such thing as the ‘joy of giving.’ Many of you have gone out of your way to shop gifts for our St. Aloysius Giving Tree, which is our effort at having a socially responsible Christmas.
Take for example the ‘angel’ ornament which many of you picked up. In exchange for taking this ornament, we are asked to bring some unwrapped gift for a child of prison inmate. How heart-broken mother or father of these children must be, being in prison unable to express their love for the child and with the guilt of not being a good role model. Yet many of you who brought gifts for these children stand in that gap between the children and their incarcerated parents, bringing joy to both. This Friday with the help of our parish’s prison ministry team I celebrated ‘Christmas Mass’ with the inmates of Dixon Correctional. The word ‘joy’ truly came alive at this mass, especially when you looked outside, our little chapel was surrounded by barbed wires and heavy gauge bars. In this little chapel, men who had guilt and shame on their heart experienced joy of praising Immanuel, ‘God with us’ who broke through the barbed wires and steel bars to be with these men who longed to be with Him.
Take another example of the gift you are giving today at the second collection at our mass. It’s for the Retirement Fund for Religious. Our parish was fortunate to have had sisters of the Daughters of Jesus for many years to show us that it is possible to live joyfully with vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. What they were doing for us was to show us a glimpse of how people in heaven live here on earth. We’ve heard Jesus say that in heaven there will be no marriage and our only happiness will be beholding the beatific vision which is God himself. So forsaking marriage, children, and wealth, these sisters have demonstrated for us that it is possible to follow Jesus, to have just enough for daily bread, and be joyful.
In the definition of ‘joy’ that I mentioned from the Merriam-Webster, there needs to be another tweaking. In addition to the ‘joy of giving,’ there is also ‘joy in being with loved ones.’ Last year when I was still a deacon at a parish north of here, I asked the children at the school mass how expensive were the Christmas gift they wanted. I began at $5 and until I hit $30, no hands went up. And there were still hands up when I said $250. After the mass, a boy came up and said to me, “Deacon Paul, what I want for Christmas does not cost anything.” I said, “Oh really? What is it?” He said, “My mom and dad are separated, and I want them to be back together.” I was speechless.
May be we take it for granted that there is great joy in our family being together. There are many who live around us whose family is not together.
This Saturday, our bishop and I were down in St. Teresa of Avila in Gonzales to concelebrate with Fr. Juantorena the Spanish mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast day was this past Friday. You can be sure that at this mass were many young men who left their home and family in Latin America to help rebuild much of Baton Rouge after our storms including many of our roofs in our neighborhood. At this mass there was great joy in honoring and celebrating Blessed Mother’s special appearance to the people of Mexico. The greater joy was knowing that Our Lady of Guadalupe whom they have honored since they were very little was present with them and consoling them even when they were thousands of miles away from their home and family.
Gaudete in Domino semper: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.” (Phil 4:4,5) The message of the Third Sunday of Advent is ‘Gaudete,’ be joyful in knowing that the God who has loved each one of us even before we were born, gathers our loved ones together and teaches us that there is great joy in giving.
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior’s coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever. (alternate Opening Prayer for Third Sunday of Advent)
Take for example the ‘angel’ ornament which many of you picked up. In exchange for taking this ornament, we are asked to bring some unwrapped gift for a child of prison inmate. How heart-broken mother or father of these children must be, being in prison unable to express their love for the child and with the guilt of not being a good role model. Yet many of you who brought gifts for these children stand in that gap between the children and their incarcerated parents, bringing joy to both. This Friday with the help of our parish’s prison ministry team I celebrated ‘Christmas Mass’ with the inmates of Dixon Correctional. The word ‘joy’ truly came alive at this mass, especially when you looked outside, our little chapel was surrounded by barbed wires and heavy gauge bars. In this little chapel, men who had guilt and shame on their heart experienced joy of praising Immanuel, ‘God with us’ who broke through the barbed wires and steel bars to be with these men who longed to be with Him.
Take another example of the gift you are giving today at the second collection at our mass. It’s for the Retirement Fund for Religious. Our parish was fortunate to have had sisters of the Daughters of Jesus for many years to show us that it is possible to live joyfully with vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. What they were doing for us was to show us a glimpse of how people in heaven live here on earth. We’ve heard Jesus say that in heaven there will be no marriage and our only happiness will be beholding the beatific vision which is God himself. So forsaking marriage, children, and wealth, these sisters have demonstrated for us that it is possible to follow Jesus, to have just enough for daily bread, and be joyful.
In the definition of ‘joy’ that I mentioned from the Merriam-Webster, there needs to be another tweaking. In addition to the ‘joy of giving,’ there is also ‘joy in being with loved ones.’ Last year when I was still a deacon at a parish north of here, I asked the children at the school mass how expensive were the Christmas gift they wanted. I began at $5 and until I hit $30, no hands went up. And there were still hands up when I said $250. After the mass, a boy came up and said to me, “Deacon Paul, what I want for Christmas does not cost anything.” I said, “Oh really? What is it?” He said, “My mom and dad are separated, and I want them to be back together.” I was speechless.
May be we take it for granted that there is great joy in our family being together. There are many who live around us whose family is not together.
This Saturday, our bishop and I were down in St. Teresa of Avila in Gonzales to concelebrate with Fr. Juantorena the Spanish mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast day was this past Friday. You can be sure that at this mass were many young men who left their home and family in Latin America to help rebuild much of Baton Rouge after our storms including many of our roofs in our neighborhood. At this mass there was great joy in honoring and celebrating Blessed Mother’s special appearance to the people of Mexico. The greater joy was knowing that Our Lady of Guadalupe whom they have honored since they were very little was present with them and consoling them even when they were thousands of miles away from their home and family.
Gaudete in Domino semper: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.” (Phil 4:4,5) The message of the Third Sunday of Advent is ‘Gaudete,’ be joyful in knowing that the God who has loved each one of us even before we were born, gathers our loved ones together and teaches us that there is great joy in giving.
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior’s coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever. (alternate Opening Prayer for Third Sunday of Advent)
