3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C | Dec 15, 2024
Additional homilies from this day in the liturgical season: 3rd Sunday of Advent – 2015, 2018, 2021
See today’s readings here. Video recordings of the Sunday evening Mass, where Fr. Brian regularly preaches, are available on Facebook at Delaware Koinonia. The archive of all of Fr. Brian’s homilies can be found here: Salesian Sermons
Earlier this week, my colleague and I were preparing our gym for our weekly morning assembly.
As we are in the midst of the Advent season, we have made sure to have the Advent wreath prominently displayed in the center of the gym as everyone files in.
And as we went to wheel the wreath out of the gym back to its home in the main lobby, we hit a small bump on the rug.
And then we both watched as the pink candle slipped out of its holder and went crashing to the floor. Shattering into pink glass shards that littered the floor of the lobby.
Quite a symbol, huh.
The week we celebrate joy, we watch it get smashed to the floor.
It was deflating to be sure.
But the truth is, don’t we often view joy in this manner.
As if it is a delicate, fragile thing. Like this candle encased in glass.
Easily stamped out, shattered, or crushed when things get hard. When seasons get dark. When pain and sorrow and fear feel ascendant.
How can we be joyful when there is so much that weighs upon us. So much that breaks us down. So much that rends our hearts?
But I think we may be misunderstanding the power of joy.
For the joy that is commanded throughout our readings this weekend is no gentle flower blossom dashed about on the wind.
No, this joy is gritty and tough.
It is a joy that claws out the diamonds in the rocky soil that surrounds us.
It is a joy that stays in the fire, knowing it is making something beautiful even as it burns.
It is a joy that remakes the world into the kingdom that was promised.
It does not wait around for this world to be remade.
It rolls up its sleeves and jumps into the muck.
It laughs even as tears stream down its face. It holds on, even when all feels like it is falling apart. It remains, even when others have fled.
Is this not what we see in the gospel for today?
John the Baptist demanding that those who were serious about changing their lives be willing to remake the world that they found.
To make the world reflect the justice at the heart of who God is.
This was no superficial invitation.
No it was one with life-altering repercussions.
One that would topple the ways the world worked.
The ones on top would step down.
The wealthy would surrender their power.
The sword would be laid down.
And all would labor together for those who had for so long be pushed to the margins.
Knowing that this work would only be possible with the transformative power of joy. Joy that is not a momentary happiness. But joy that is the core of who we are.
Joy that would shine even in the dark. Knowing it is the darkness where we would need to be.
Joy that would settle next to bedsides of relatives moaning in pain and be the comforting touch.
Joy that would wipe the tears of the child who declares they don’t want to live anymore. That would gently help the smile bloom once again on their face.
Joy that releases the stress that we carry with a warm cup of coffee and hands clasped across the table.
Joy that lifts up the chin of the unemployed staring at the mounting bills and empty cupboards and helps begin to fill them.
Joy that refuses to surrender. Joy that will not fail.
Rejoice my friends. I say it again rejoice.
Let us go forth and remake the world according to God’s will.
May God be Praised.
IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Zuccarelli, Francesco, 1702-1788. John the Baptist Preaching, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56714 [retrieved January 2, 2025]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zuccarelli,_Saint_John_the_Baptist_Preaching.jpg.
Leaven in the World 
Leave a comment