Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent Cycle C On the Occasion of the Mass Execution of Children In Newtown, Connecticut December 15 16. 2012 Monsignor John C. Marine Today we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent. We call it Gaudete Sunday from the Latin word which means rejoice. Rejoice because Advent is more than half over. Rejoice because the coming of Christ is closer than when we first began Advent. The color of the vestments that the priest wears lightens up to a brighter shade of purple. (almost a rose color) and we light the same shade of candle on our Advent wreaths, both in our homes and today in our church. We do that to symbolize Jesus, who is the light in the darkness and who takes away the darkness in our life, is fast approaching with His coming birth at Christmas. Indeed the first reading we heard today from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah, was meant to set the mood for today s liturgy. Remember what we heard? Shout for joy oh daughter Zion. The Lord has turned away your enemies. The Lord is in your midst. You have no further misfortune to fear. Be not discouraged. But after what happened yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut, which was one of the worst mass executions of innocent children in U.S. history, how do we rejoice? How do we keep from being discouraged? How are we to understand that prophesy that we have no further misfortune to fear?
I am sure that all of you who are parents, or those who are like me, responsible for the care and protection of our children, you could not help but think of our own and to thank God, our own, at least, are safe and sound. I would surmise that many children in our community received extra long hugs from their parents and clear reassurances that they are loved. If their parents have not yet, they should today. So we come today to Church, on this day when we should be rejoicing, yet our minds are filled with many questions. Where were you God? Were you not present in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday? Why, innocent children? Perhaps the most important question of all we want to ask is the very same question the people asked John the Baptist in today s Gospel. What should we do? Yes, what should we do? What do we have to do to change this violent world? What do we have to do to change this world that thinks increasingly that violence is the way to solve problems? A world that has lost its respect for the dignity of human life. While I do not imply, in any way, that I have clear answers to these questions we carry in our hearts today, I will attempt, as God s Priest, using His words to shed some light on the circumstances of our life today. On a day when we attempt to get ready for Christmas, yet at the same time deal with this unspeakable tragedy that happened in a town not unlike our own, in fact, very similar, and with a name so eerily like that of our neighboring community. So where was God? My brothers and sisters, God was just as present as He was on the day when His own Son died on the cross. God was just as present as He was when King Herod
massacred every first born child when he feared that a newborn King had been born, as He was told by the wise men. God was just as present in Newtown, Connecticut as He was in New York City and Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 9-11. But God is, in the end, a mystery. A mystery that is difficult to fully comprehend with our weak human minds. But a God who has revealed Himself to us, His children. And from what He has revealed about Himself through the ages we know this: God is all powerful and He could have stopped that killing if He wanted. But God also has given us the gift of a free will. A gift that we can use to bring great things to this world, on the one hand, and on the other, terrible sorrow and pain. God, for His own good reason, respects this free will of ours, just as He did that of Adam and Eve. What God ultimately wants from us is our love. Our love for Him and our love for one another. Yet, He knows that love is not something that can be forced. Love is something that must be freely chosen and given. Yet, because of our free will, we can choose not to love but to hate. God cries when we misuse that gift of free will. Like any father, He mourns the suffering of His people, especially that of little innocent children and their parents. God cried yesterday, you can be sure of that. Just as He cried on the day that His own Son died on the cross. But then God did something no one else could do. Something we know about through the passion, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. Yesterday, God began taking that mess that Adam Lanza caused and began to turn it into something good. God took those little children and He brought them to Heaven where no harm could touch them again. Where Christmas and joy and happiness are not just for a day but for eternity. Into a place where someday they will be re-united with their parents and all those who love them.
But that is not all that God did. God took this mess and He asked us to use this horrible cross, one that we wish we would not even have had to consider, and He asked the people of Newtown, Connecticut, and yes, we the people of Holland, to turn it into a resurrection. But how? What are we to do? the crowds asked John the Baptist in today s Gospel and we find ourselves asking the same question. I think the people of Newtown, Connecticut have given us the first and immediate answer to that question. If you watched the news you notice that they gathered together and they filled St.Rose of Lima Catholic Church there. Christians and Jews, Democrats and Republicans, blacks and whites, it didn t matter, did it? They all came together seeking God s word, God s wisdom, God s consolation. Perhaps the resurrection that God wants from this tragedy is, that in a country which has not been so divided since the Civil War as it is now, we have to come together, like we did after 9-11 and realize that we are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God, first and foremost. Yes, we are one nation, not under ourselves, but under God and His law. Let s not forget that message so quickly after this tragedy as we did after 9-11. Let it stay and remain in our mind. What are we to do? we ask. We must renew our efforts to teach ourselves and our children and our world, that violence is never the answer. It is not how you get what you want. It does not solve our problems. Revenge solves nothing. Taking human life solves nothing. We adults have to watch our behavior how we model life for our children. Is an angry, violent outburst what they see between you and your spouse, between you and your neighbor, against the person who cuts out in front of us on the highway? Are our
children being raised by a television or video games that teach violence? Children, are we bullying anyone, excluding people from our circle of friends. I was very concerned the other day when I watched news clips of a violent protest that took place in Lansing, Michigan, when fellow Americans said: We are not happy with the decision that was made? and so they began cutting the ropes of the tent that was housing the opposition and they were not concerned that these folks could have been trapped and smothered to death within it. We should be abhorred as Americans at this kind of behavior. This is not how we do things in the United States. And the next day, America woke up to even greater violence. What is God saying to us? God is saying: Wake up America. Let this be a wake up call. Pope John Paul, II once said: Create a culture of death in our country, where innocent human life in the womb can be murdered, where the life of the old and the dying can be ended, if that is what they want, where life is cheap and death is what we will have. Create a culture of life and we will have life. My brother and sisters, despite the sadness we feel over the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, we still have reason to heed the voice of Zephaniah the prophet and rejoice. Rejoice for we know that the baby that was born in a stable that first Christmas, one day grew up. That boy who became a grown man was also God.
He Himself was not shielded from violence. He endured a horrible death right in front of His mother at the hands of those who were sure that His death would silence Him and destroy His message and toss it with Him into the tomb. But His resurrection and our faith in that resurrection, teaches us that His voice will never be silenced and His message is as fresh and as true and as life giving as it ever was. The message is this. God is not dead. God is very much alive. His Kingdom has come and now He waits for us to share in it s complete establishment here on earth as it is in Heaven. Boys and girls, brothers and sisters, reject violence, reject bullying, reject hatred, and reject revenge. There is always a better way to settle differences and to find justice. That is what we must do. That is what Christ asks of us and that is what will make our world a safer place. And so, I leave you with these words that we heard from St. Paul to the Philippians: The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all. But in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your request known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. May God Bless You.