Homily, Third Sunday of Advent B Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul December 10-11, 2011 Rev. Noah Casey (Homily begins by singing the Gaudete Antiphon for Gaudete Sunday.) Rejoice; again, I say rejoice. Traditionally this is known as Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday because the church rejoices at the nearness of our God, Emmanuel. We take our cue from the beginning of the second reading for today from the First Letter to the Thessalonians. The encouragement to rejoice comes close to the end of this letter, and to understand it properly, it would be good for us to drop in, as it were, on the Thessalonians Community. The Thessalonian community of Christians was one of the earliest gatherings of Gentile Christians. Located on a major trade route, and recognized as the capitol city of the region, varieties of persons found the Christian faith here and were baptized. Paul and Silas were missionaries to this early group of disciples, and encouraged them in their practice of the faith which unfolded in the midst of conflict between those who accepted Jesus Christ and those who did not. Paul was also concerned about ethical behavior in the Thessalonian community especially regarding the integrity of marriage. All the more reason for offering encouragement to this fledgling Christian community as they awaited the return of their Lord which apparently was not
going to be as soon as previously thought. The admonition comes in the form of a litany of encouragement, and it is bold in its simplicity. Listen again. We are invited to: rejoice, to pray, to be thankful. We are admonished to not dampen the spirit, or the promising echoes of the prophets, like Isaiah in the first reading. Be discerning, in other words be selective about what we take in, and hold on to good things letting go of bad things. The ultimate encouragement is the promise, in the last sentence, that God will be faithful. Lists such as the one we just repeated are simple and, sadly all too easy to dismiss as, dare I say it, NICE. God spare us from nice. Nice is about as exciting as a left over piece of buttered toast from the morning. (I love food images; don t you?). The fact is that it is not always easy to rejoice. In fact, it is not always easy to pray, to be thankful and all those other wonderful items on the Thessalonian list. It is not easy to rejoice in the light of the war. This admonition will be especially challenging to those this Christmas who will feel acutely the painful absence of a loved one killed in the line of duty or serving in a far off place. It is not always easy to pray when my mind is so scattered with Christmas preparations and expectations. It is not always easy to be thankful if I ve lost my job, my spouse, my dignity and the justice due to me as a child of God.
It is not easy to test everything, that is, to be discerning when I feel like a pin ball bouncing off of the events of daily life with little time or energy to choose the helpful and let go of the destructive. It is not always easy to rejoice because even though I know the Lord is coming back to us at some point, I m overwhelmed by the life of today, this moment, maybe even this hour. The author C. S. Lewis has always been a popular author and made even more so by the movie based on his classic book, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. This contemporary English author penned a number of wonderful books, many having to do with the defenses of Christianity. Among his noteworthy efforts was a very autobiographical work entitled SURPRISED BY JOY. In this work, Lewis comments on his journey as a young man away from faith, and back again stronger than before. Part of this discovery was the discovery of real joy. Later in another book entitled A GRIEF OBSERVED Lewis reflected on the relationship with a woman whose name was Joy, and the complete surprise by which she entered his life, and opened him up to the wonders of true love. It was a gracious and full love, but not a love without suffering. In the end, Joy contracted a terminal illness that test their love as only suffering can. Joy continued to surprise Lewis by her approach to death, gently but firmly challenging him to move through the bitterness and despair of watching a loved one die, and moving on to, what the
writer of the First Letter to the Thessalonians called holding on the good, letting go of the bad. What C. S. Lewis learned we must learn. What surprised him by his beloved wife, Joy, must surprise us by our loving Emmanuel. We must let ourselves be surprised by the rejoicing that wells us from within faithful if struggling hearts. Our joy comes as a surprise because it bursts into our lives at times we least expect. Like the early Christians of Thessalonica, indeed, like those following John the Baptist around the banks of the Jordan River looking for something to transform their despair, their poverty and their disappointment with how things were, we come to this Advent hoping to be surprised by the gift of thankfulness, of prayer and of discernment. Advent joy comes through the grace of making choices each day. Joy will come knowing how near God is to us even in the most trying of times. This is not necessarily the ability to rejoice because we have the answers to all life s questions, or because we always see the light at the end of the tunnel. We rejoice because God is always faithful. The One who is joy, the One who is love, the One who draws near to us in Emmanuel is faithful to us no matter what comes our way. This is the source of our joy. Like John the Baptist, like the Prophet Isaiah, we are called to give witness to this joy in our world that struggles to find joy. We must allow the light that is coming in Jesus, our Savior, to refract through the prisms of
hearts to splash upon the walls of injustice and shame so that our brothers and sisters may come to know the Light that shines in the darkness. We must remind one another to be a witnesses, to draw others to Christ, to point Him out in the crowd, and to say with voices of hope, Here is the Lamb of God! This is cause for us to rejoice!