{"id":2357,"date":"2017-12-17T12:41:11","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T17:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2017-12-17T12:41:11","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T17:41:11","slug":"3rd-sunday-of-advent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/3rd-sunday-of-advent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday of Advent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

3rd<\/sup> Sunday in Advent, Year B<\/a>
\nIsaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
\nResponsorial \u2013 Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54 (Isaiah 61:10b)
\n1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
\nJohn 1:6-8, 19-28
\nDecember 17, 2017<\/p>\n

As we have seen the last two weeks, our liturgical color for Advent is violent (we typically say purple).\u00a0 As we celebrate this third Sunday of Advent our banners, cloths, and the cinctures wore by our altar servers remain violent to remind us of Advent as a time to think about our readiness and what we need to change in our lives to prepare for Jesus\u2019 coming.<\/p>\n

However, I am not wearing violent.\u00a0 My chasuble is rose-colored.\u00a0 It is a color of warmth.\u00a0 It reminds us to \u201crejoice.\u201d\u00a0 Today is what is known as Gaudete Sunday.\u00a0 The word \u201cGaudete\u201d means rejoice.<\/p>\n

We need to think about our readiness but not to feel gloom and doom but rather to feel hope, hope made possible because we know of God\u2019s love for us. \u00a0Gaudete Sunday is to remind us that even during our Advent reflection we can rejoice.<\/p>\n

We hear of \u201crejoicing\u201d in our first reading as Isaiah says, \u201cI rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We hear in our responsorial today that comes from Mary\u2019s magnificent as she visits her relative Elizabeth after learning that she is to be the mother of Jesus.\u00a0 Mary says, \u201cmy spirit rejoices in God my Savior.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

We hear in Paul\u2019s first letter to the Thessalonians when he writes, \u201cRejoice always.\u00a0 Pray without ceasing.\u00a0 In all circumstances, give thanks.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Even our gospel today that does not use the word \u201crejoice\u201d shows a rejoicing spirit from John the Baptist.\u00a0 He knows Jesus is about to come.\u00a0 He is happy for this and he wants all to be able to enjoy Jesus\u2019 coming so he calls them to \u201cmake straight the way of the Lord.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 John wants all to be able to rejoice at Jesus\u2019 coming. \u00a0John points to Jesus.<\/p>\n

We want to \u201crejoice always<\/em>\u201d but the reality is we don\u2019t always feel like rejoicing.\u00a0 Sometimes bad things happen.\u00a0 We lose a loved one or face a serious illness.\u00a0 We might struggle to make ends meet.\u00a0 In these times it might seem difficult, if not impossible, to rejoice.\u00a0 Yet, we hear Paul\u2019s words, \u201cIn all<\/strong> circumstances, give thanks.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

How are we to give thanks in \u201call circumstances<\/em>\u201d?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that we are to be thankful for the bad things that happen but when things don\u2019t go the way we want, we need to think about how God gets us through those times.\u00a0 We can recall Mary\u2019s words, \u201cThe Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 She goes on to speak of how \u201cHe has come to the help of his servant Israel<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that God whisks away all our problems, that should be obvious.\u00a0 We know we face earthly struggles that seem to bind us.\u00a0 This is where I turn to Isaiah\u2019s words that he has been sent to \u201cto proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaiah wrote these words to the Israelites who had just been sent free from exile in Babylon.\u00a0 So, the words \u201ccaptives\u201d and \u201cprisoners\u201d would first be heard by them in that context.\u00a0 However, there is a deeper meaning to what we read in scripture beyond the moment in time in which it is written.<\/p>\n

What are we \u201ccaptive\u201d to today?\u00a0 What is holding us \u201cprisoner\u201d?<\/p>\n

I see two things, \u201csin\u201d and \u201cmammon.\u201d\u00a0 Sin holds us captive by separating us from God\u2019s love.\u00a0 It can compound this by the way sin blinds us and leads us into further sin.\u00a0 We might start with a small sin but then we sin further by lying about to cover it up.\u00a0 As such, not only does our sin separate us from God but it controls our subsequent actions.<\/p>\n

What about \u201cmammon\u201d?\u00a0 Mammon is material wealth.\u00a0 Just last week I spoke about how sometimes we might want to possess material things (nice car, brand name clothing) to increase our status.\u00a0 In doing so, our quest for status controls our actions and it is sin.\u00a0 The name for this sin is \u201cpride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus comes to grant us liberty from our sins by his death on the Cross.<\/p>\n

Jesus also shows us that it is possible not to be held prisoner by mammon.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 actions are not directed by a desire for earthly things and neither should our actions.<\/p>\n

Yet, we continue to get caught up in earthly affairs.\u00a0 Sometimes it even happens to us when we try to celebrate our faith.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking of Christmas.\u00a0 Christmas is the birth of Jesus.\u00a0 To celebrate Christmas, we have parties, dinners, and give presents.\u00a0 These can b<\/em><\/strong>e excellent ways to come together to celebrate our faith but we have to be careful not to let the material aspects of all that goes into our celebrations hold us captive.<\/p>\n

As we go through these final days of Advent leading to Christmas, we need to ask the Lord to help us remember what Christmas means for our salvation so that we can all repeat the words of Isaiah, \u201cI rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

3rd Sunday in Advent, Year B Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11 Responsorial \u2013 Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54 (Isaiah 61:10b) 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28 December 17, 2017 As we have seen the last two weeks, our liturgical color for Advent is violent (we typically say purple).\u00a0 As we celebrate this third Sunday of Advent our banners, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘3rd Sunday of 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":[223,82],"tags":[377,152,378],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-C1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357"}],"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=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2362,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions\/2362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}