{"id":1251,"date":"2013-12-15T09:54:43","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T14:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2013-12-15T09:54:43","modified_gmt":"2013-12-15T14:54:43","slug":"homily-3rd-sunday-of-advent-year-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/homily-3rd-sunday-of-advent-year-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily – 3rd Sunday of Advent – Year A"},"content":{"rendered":"

3rd<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\nIsaiah 35:1-6a, 10
\nJames 5:7-10
\nMatthew 11:2-11
\nDecember 15, 2013<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you the one?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

John the Baptist is in jail for preparing the Way of the Lord<\/i> and has heard of Jesus.\u00a0 He wants to know if Jesus is the Messiah.\u00a0 So, he sends disciples to inquire, \u201cAre you the one?<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course Jesus is the one but he doesn\u2019t answer with a \u201cyes\u201d but by directing them to look at the signs he has done.<\/p>\n

John made his life all about \u201cpreparing the way of the Lord\u201d.\u00a0 He has been waiting for Jesus the Messiah but he isn\u2019t the only one who has been waiting.<\/p>\n

The Israelites had been waiting for centuries.\u00a0 Ever since the time of King David there had been prophecies about a coming Messiah.\u00a0 During Advent, we hear of messianic prophecies found in the writings of Isaiah.<\/p>\n

They had been waiting a long time.\u00a0 At times, they won\u2019t always a patient people.\u00a0 Now, Jesus has been born, an occasion for rejoicing.<\/p>\n

Today is Gaudete Sunday.\u00a0 Gaudete means \u201crejoice\u201d.\u00a0 During the first half of Advent our readings focus on the Second Coming but now we turn our attention more towards the first coming that we will celebrate at Christmas.\u00a0 Without a doubt, Christmas is a time to rejoice.<\/p>\n

Yet, Christmas is still a week and a half away.\u00a0 We aren\u2019t there yet.\u00a0 We may not like waiting but we must.<\/p>\n

Waiting may not be easy but it is a natural part of life.\u00a0 James speaks of the farmer waiting for the fruit to grow.\u00a0 It takes time for the trees to be fruit.\u00a0 There are times there is nothing for the farmer to do but wait.<\/p>\n

Waiting can try our patience but waiting isn\u2019t the only thing that can try our patience.<\/p>\n

People can try our patience.\u00a0 Sometimes by what they do.\u00a0 Maybe they don\u2019t do something the way we want it.\u00a0 Maybe they are ahead of us in the store and moving too slowly.\u00a0 Sometimes they try our patience by standing in the way of the way we want to do things.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Christmas crowds at the stores try your patience.<\/p>\n

Maybe all the extra people at our Christmas Masses try your patience.\u00a0 Normally, our 4 p.m. Mass on Christmas Eve is packed.\u00a0 Do the crowds try your patience?\u00a0 Can\u2019t find a seat in church?\u00a0 Maybe you will have to park a few blocks away because of all the cars.<\/p>\n

Will this try your patience?<\/p>\n

Maybe but looking at things as Jesus would, the problem isn\u2019t that so many people come to church at Christmas.\u00a0 No, the problem is they don\u2019t come the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

They will have different reasons for not coming the rest of the year.\u00a0 Of course, some are visitors, just in town for the holidays.\u00a0 Others may not feel connected or worthy.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know all the reasons people don\u2019t come every Sunday.\u00a0 What we can do<\/i> at Christmas is make them feel welcome.\u00a0 We need to give them an experience that they want to come back for.<\/p>\n

We will decorate the church to make it beautiful for all who come.\u00a0 Our musicians are practicing for the Christmas music to be ready.\u00a0 The pastor will prepare a wonderful homily.\u00a0 We are working on booklets to hand out at the end of the Christmas Masses like we did last year that will invite everyone to be a regular part of our parish.<\/p>\n

Will you do your part?<\/p>\n

What is your part to encourage the people to come back?<\/p>\n

I think a lot of what you as the congregation can do to help our \u201cvisitors\u201d come back each Sunday is a simple matter of attitude and kind gestures.<\/p>\n

First, come with a smile on your face!\u00a0 It\u2019s Jesus\u2019 birthday.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t come in grumpy because you had to park a few blocks away.\u00a0 Smile because there are so many people here!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t have a sour face when you find someone sitting in your pew<\/b>.\u00a0 Be glad they are here.<\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019ll get here early to get a seat and someone will come later and ask you to squeeze over to make room.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give them a dirty look.\u00a0 Move over and tell them how wonderful it is to see so many people here.\u00a0 Maybe even say \u201cI wish all these people were here every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

And perhaps the simplest of all is to simply say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d to all who come.\u00a0 But don\u2019t say it with a gloomy face.\u00a0 Say it with a smile that says we\u2019re glad you\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

Welcoming people here can start now.\u00a0 When you see people you know, invite them to come here for Christmas.\u00a0 Maybe it will be just the nudge they need.<\/p>\n

Whether they know it or not, everyone is searching for something and that something is God.\u00a0 Pray that we always offer an encounter with God\u2019s love for all who come here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10 James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11 December 15, 2013 \u201cAre you the one?\u201d John the Baptist is in jail for preparing the Way of the Lord and has heard of Jesus.\u00a0 He wants to know if Jesus is the Messiah.\u00a0 So, he sends disciples to inquire, \u201cAre …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Homily – 3rd Sunday of Advent – Year A’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-kb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1252,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions\/1252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}