Dec. 16, 2012: 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C

This past week, the priests of our area  heard confessions during communal penance services at several churches. There are two very common sins that we hear: impatience and anger. How many of us here would agree? I can tell you that they were the most common sins that men at the parish jail told us priests earlier this week. Impatience and anger may not seem like serious sins, but when we experience either one or both, whether we are the recipient or the ones being impatient or angry with someone, it does not feel good and leaves us with a heavy heart. That sense of joy we normally feel is then lost. Impatience and anger can lead us to make choices that we regret, just like those men in the jail made poor choices. I wonder if anger and impatience were among the factors that contributed to the tragedy this weekend in Connecticut. What sadness and turmoil the sins of impatience and anger can leave behind in our lives! We should not hesitate to seek freedom from them; we should seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation to ask Jesus to wipe away the heavy guilt and restore the joy in our lives
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Do you ever fuss at people who tell you to be joyful when you don’t even feel like it? Sometimes I feel like even fussing at St. Paul! He tells us today to rejoice, “rejoice in the Lord always.” He has a point though. When we lose joy, we tend to be irrational, lose peace, and then behave in ways not typical to our normal behavior patterns. How many times do we say to ourselves, “I want my joy back.” Then how can we get it back? This prompts us to ponder,  “Where does joy come from?”

There is a strong drive in each of us that seeks affirmation such as knowing that I am wanted; I have a purpose; I am accepted, I am loved. Yet I can’t affirm my own self alone; I can’t look in the mirror and say this over and over and feel better. How often have you thought -- ‘I can only accept myself if I am accepted by another’, or felt -- ‘I need the other's presence, saying to me, with more than words: it is good that you exist.’ Those who are unloved cannot even love themselves. This sense of being accepted comes in the first instance from other human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile. Ultimately we need a sense of being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts me, and I become convinced of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist. If we ever lose the sense of being accepted and loved by God, we begin to doubt why we should exist. When we doubt God, then doubt over my own existence follows. We see today how widely this doubt is spreading. We see it in the joylessness, in the inner sadness on so many people’s faces today. Only faith gives me the conviction: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being, even in hard times.

Does it seem insensitive that we, as Church, celebrate,  Gaudete Sunday -- Rejoice! -- in light of the tragedy in Connecticut, and the violence in our state, country and world?  Are we just marking the Third Sunday of Advent by lighting the pink candle?  No. Infact, St. Paul speaks about this in our Second Reading. He tells us to rejoice because our faith tells us that Lord is near. And because he is near, we should not be anxious, but rather in prayer, petition, with thanksgiving we should make our requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So even when children are killed in a horrific tragedies, or adults gunned down for drugs, or when war rages in the Middle East, we continue to have confidence in God who is our strength and courage. In these tragic times, we can imitate Our Lady of Sorrows. It was Blessed Mother who stood there with patience, strength, and courage when horrific violence was inflicted upon her Son. It was a sorrowful Mother who stood at Calvary still trusting in the promise of Resurrection--that something good could come out of all this evil.

When we find ourselves getting impatient and angry with someone, we must realize that God has been incredibly patient and kind with us because we mean so much to Him. We need to ask Him to give us that same patience and kindness, the same gift that Blessed Mother received from Him; this is how we will change how we treat others. It’s only when our hearts are consumed with the love of Christ that our hearts and minds will be guarded by peace beyond all understanding.