{"id":1735,"date":"2015-12-13T13:10:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T18:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2015-12-13T13:10:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-13T18:10:06","slug":"3rd-sunday-of-advent-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/3rd-sunday-of-advent-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

3rd<\/sup> Sunday of Advent, Year C<\/a>
\nZephaniah 3:14-18a
\nResponsorial \u2013 Isaiah 12:2-6
\nPhilippians 4:4-7
\nLuke 3:10-18
\nDecember 13, 2015<\/p>\n

\u201cShout for joy<\/strong>, O daughter Zion!\u00a0 Sing joyfully<\/strong>, O Israel\u201d<\/em> These are the words the prophet Zephaniah offers to the Israelites.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s words echo this when he writes, \u201cRejoice in the Lord always.\u00a0 I shall say it again: rejoice!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Today is Gaudete Sunday.\u00a0 \u201cGaudete\u201d means to rejoice.\u00a0 God does not mean for us to be for us to be discouraged.\u00a0 God wants to bring us joy.<\/p>\n

Christmas is getting close and it is a time when many will rejoice.\u00a0 There is good reason to rejoice at Christmas as our savior is born who is Christ and Lord.<\/p>\n

Yet, even though many people have their Christmas trees up, decorations are up, and houses are lit up, it is not yet Christmas.\u00a0 We mark the passage of our Advent days with the candles of our Advent wreath.\u00a0 The first two candles are violet along with the one will light for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.\u00a0 The violet symbolizes our need to reflect on our weaknesses and how we have sinned.\u00a0 This can be depressing but needed because we need to know what we need to change.\u00a0 In this midst of this time of waiting and reflection, today our candle for this week is rose.\u00a0 The rose symbolizes joy, the joy that God wants us to know each and every day.<\/p>\n

This \u201cjoy\u201d is not a matter of earthly pleasure.\u00a0 Earthly things can bring happiness for a few minutes.\u00a0 God\u2019s joy comes from knowing that the Lord is near and in our midst.<\/p>\n

Christmas helps people to be aware that God is near and they are drawn to church.\u00a0 I\u2019m guessing our attendance at Christmas increase by over 50% compared a normal Sunday.\u00a0 It is God\u2019s desire for all the people to know his joy not just on Christmas but always.<\/p>\n

What makes it hard to know God\u2019s joy?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that bad things happen in the world.\u00a0 It seems<\/em> like there is more bad news than good news.\u00a0 I want to emphasize \u201cseems\u201d because I wonder if it is really the case or is it a choice of what we talk about.<\/p>\n

For instance, we talk about the people who stop coming to church or start going to another church.\u00a0 How much do we talk about those who have started coming here?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that our numbers are down but if we choose to only talk about the people who aren\u2019t coming we feel down and there is not joy.\u00a0 We need to reach out to these people.\u00a0 However, if we see the people who are coming now who didn\u2019t used to we can see hope.\u00a0 That hope gives us joy.\u00a0 Is it not easier to move forward with hope and joy than with despair?<\/p>\n

Likewise, I can sit at my desk and see all the work that needs to be done.\u00a0 If this is all I see (which is the case at times), I feel dejected and that the work will never be done.\u00a0 On the other hand, if I look at what has already been completed, if I look at the hearts that have already been healed, then I can minister with hope.\u00a0 Better yet is when I can see how God has had a hand in getting the work done.\u00a0 It is when I can take a moment to look back that I can see how God has been near and find joy.<\/p>\n

It is wonderful to find joy.\u00a0 Yet, the work is not done when we become joyful ourselves.\u00a0 We need to share the joy.\u00a0 We need to be joyful.<\/p>\n

I have to admit this can be a challenge for me.\u00a0 Some people are naturally joyful.\u00a0 They always seem to be nice and in a good mood.\u00a0 Just being around them helps us to be joyful.\u00a0 I am not one of them.<\/p>\n

Now, that doesn\u2019t mean I never have joy in my life.\u00a0 I mean to say that I don\u2019t radiate joy like some.\u00a0 This, in part, is because I am a task oriented person.\u00a0 I like to identify a task that needs to be done, do it, and see immediate results.<\/p>\n

This worked well when I worked as an engineer.\u00a0 Results were measurable.\u00a0 As a priest, it is harder to identify the results.\u00a0 Sometimes it takes a few minutes.\u00a0 Sometimes it takes a lifetime.<\/p>\n

For me it is all about the joy that Jesus places in our hearts.\u00a0 I think about the years I didn\u2019t go to church.\u00a0 Was I happy in earthly terms?\u00a0 I would say a good part of the time but I also knew something was missing and that was what drew me back to Church.\u00a0 When I returned, I found new joy.\u00a0 As I became more involved than just coming on Sunday, I came to find more joy.<\/p>\n

I know I don\u2019t always show joy but I know probably the two things that give me the greatest joy are hearing confessions to help people receive God\u2019s mercy to be able to know his joy and help people learn more about our faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I do the presentations when I can.<\/p>\n

What gives you this deep and lasting joy and how can you share it with others so that all may rejoice?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C Zephaniah 3:14-18a Responsorial \u2013 Isaiah 12:2-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:10-18 December 13, 2015 \u201cShout for joy, O daughter Zion!\u00a0 Sing joyfully, O Israel\u201d These are the words the prophet Zephaniah offers to the Israelites. Paul\u2019s words echo this when he writes, \u201cRejoice in the Lord always.\u00a0 I shall say …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C – 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":[148,152,151],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-rZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735"}],"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=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1736,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions\/1736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}