{"id":1512,"date":"2014-12-14T12:42:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-14T17:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1512"},"modified":"2014-12-14T12:42:08","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T17:42:08","slug":"3rd-sunday-in-advent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/3rd-sunday-in-advent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday in Advent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday in Advent, Year B<\/a>
\nIsaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
\n1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
\nJohn 1:6-8, 19-28
\nDecember 14, 2014<\/p>\n

Christmas is getting closer but it still isn\u2019t here yet.\u00a0 We are still waiting<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As the time drew closer for Jesus\u2019 birth, God sent John the Baptist.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 To offer testimony, testimony that the Messiah is coming to bring light into the world.<\/p>\n

John\u2019s Gospel is written as a whole to help us understand who Jesus is.\u00a0 The whole gospel can be viewed as a trial where testimony is collected to determine who Jesus is.\u00a0 That testimony begins with John the Baptist.<\/p>\n

When John the Baptist was asked who he was, he could have told the people that he was the Messiah and some would have believed him and served him as their king.\u00a0 John the Baptist wasn\u2019t interested in being king.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t looking for status for himself as a prophet.\u00a0 John just wants to lead other people to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Isaiah tries to do the same thing.\u00a0 Isaiah could have sought honor for himself but he gives the credit to God.\u00a0 We must also note that he never denies the good that he has done.\u00a0 He knows he was done good things but he tells others that he does the good because of what God has done for him and what God has given him including his mission.<\/p>\n

So really Isaiah gives testimony to who God is just like John the Baptist gives testimony to who Jesus is.\u00a0 Really all of scripture offers us testimony on how God has loved his people.<\/p>\n

So the question for us can be how we offer testimony to God.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we teach what we know about God to others.\u00a0 Knowledge is important.<\/p>\n

Do we tell others that we are Catholic and why?\u00a0 Ask yourself why you come to church and then share it with others.<\/p>\n

In thinking about how we offer testimony about God we can turn to Paul\u2019s words to the Thessalonians, Rejoice always.\u00a0 Pray without ceasing, in all circumstances give thanks<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rejoice Always<\/em> \u2013 our actions speak louder than words.\u00a0 If we tell people about how wonderful God is and then walk around miserable what does that really say?\u00a0 This is not to say we don\u2019t have bad days and struggles, I know I do.\u00a0 I am not perfect.\u00a0 Unfortunately I get grumpy.\u00a0 I need to work on rejoicing, rejoicing that when things are bad I have a God who I can turn to for help and comfort.<\/p>\n

Pray without ceasing<\/em> \u2013 Without ceasing?\u00a0 How?\u00a0 We have to sleep. \u00a0We have to eat.\u00a0 We have to work.\u00a0 What could Paul mean when he says \u201cpray without ceasing?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Prayer is not just saying words.\u00a0 Praying without ceasing means to make God part of our whole lives.\u00a0 We might think ourselves too busy to pray.\u00a0 I know that when I get busy, which is pretty much all the time, sometimes I spend even more time working and prayer gets shortened when what I really need to do is pray all the more.\u00a0 We need prayer to strengthen us.\u00a0 I know when I pray \u201cwell\u201d I become better at what I do and get more down in less time and offer better testimony to God.<\/p>\n

Give thanks<\/em> \u2013 When we do what I have said about rejoicing and praying we can realize the blessings God has given us and have an \u201cAttitude of Gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are all called to give testimony to who God is.\u00a0 It can begin with something as simple as saying Grace before a meal in a restaurant.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 Are you embarrassed to have other people see you praying?<\/p>\n

It can be sharing with others the knowledge we have about God.\u00a0 It can be sharing with others why we come to church.\u00a0 It can be how we rejoice and pray without ceasing.\u00a0 It can be the attitude we live with.<\/p>\n

I have to do better at this.\u00a0 How about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday in Advent, Year B Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28 December 14, 2014 Christmas is getting closer but it still isn\u2019t here yet.\u00a0 We are still waiting. As the time drew closer for Jesus\u2019 birth, God sent John the Baptist.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 To offer testimony, testimony that the Messiah is coming …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘3rd Sunday in Advent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/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-oo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512"}],"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=1512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1513,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions\/1513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}