Rejoice! Rejoice! - St. Anthony Catholic Church

Page Four — December 11, 2011Saint Anthony Catholic ChurchScripture Reflections for theThird Sunday of AdventLIVINGtheWORDSunday,December 11, 2011TODAY'S FOCUS: REJOICE ALWAYSPaul’s words to the Thessalonians signal next week’smessage: “Rejoice always.” How is this possible? Becausethe God of peace can “make you perfectly holy” and“preserved blameless” for the day when Christ comesagain. We cannot do this, but God can. “The one whocalls you is faithful, and he will accomplish it.”• FIRST READINGI rejoice heartily in the Lord (Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11).This reading is filled with the hope of a fulfillment of thejoy that the Lord had promised through the mouth ofDeutero‐Isaiah, the prophet who promised a moment ofrestoration to Israel during the exile in Babylon (587‐539BC). It speaks of the Spirit of God being upon the Messiah.It was through the Spirit that the land would be restored.There would be a year of favor (which alludes to theJubilee Year tradition).• SECOND READINGMay you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preservedblameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ(1 Thessalonians 5:16-24).This reading is called a “paranesis” — the section of lastminute instructions found at the end of most of Paul’sletters. Two of the themes found throughout this letterare joy and prayer. Joy is the sense of peace that we findwhen we do God’s will, and prayer is a means ofdiscerning God’s will. We should not quench the Spirit,but we must test everything. We must be open to God’sspeaking in our hearts, but we also need to recognize thatwe do not have a monopoly on the truth. We must alsolisten to the Spirit speaking through the hierarchy.• GOSPELThere is one among you whom you do not recognize(John 1:6-8, 19-28).John the Baptist gave testimony that Jesus is the Messiahand that he is not. In the days of Jesus, there were people(Mandaeans) that claimed that John the Baptist was theMessiah (some still make this claim today). By havingJohn deny this, the evangelist is stating that everythingJohn said and did pointed toward Jesus as the trueMessiah. John considered his role as one of preparing theway of the Lord, making straight the path throughconversion of hearts to justice and righteousness. Johncannot untie Jesus’ sandal both because he cannot touchthe least significant of Jesus’ garments and because theact of untying sandals is part of the Levirite marriageceremony, the next of kin would marry a widow (for shehad married God in the Old Covenant) and Jesus is thebridegroom who will marry her (the New Covenant).John cannot untie the sandal because he is not thebridegroom (the Messiah) — Jesus is.• REFLECTIONCertain watchwords are associated with each season ofthe Church year, almost becoming a motto. Advent’s is”Wake up.” It then leads to other words like the comingChristmas season, whose key word is “Rejoice.” ThisSunday was traditionally called Gaudete (Rejoice)Sunday. Priests continue to wear rose‐colored vestmentstoday, signaling joy. Joy is not only for Christmastimeand the occasional Sunday. Before Vatican II, Massbegan with the “prayers at the foot of the altar.” Thepriest would begin: “I will go up to the altar of God.”The server responded “To God who gives joy to myyouth,” or as some translations had it, “To God myexceeding joy.” It was a reminder that God is the sourceof all joy and that joy is one of the great gifts of God, oneof the fruits of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul reminds us that“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol”(see Galatians 5:22). Now there is a good listfor Christmas giving. Tell your loved ones yourChristmas gift this year will be to pray throughout thecoming year that the Spirit will bring them one of thesegifts. John’s gift to the people who came out into thewilderness was to call them to prepare for the Lord, togive them a sense of heightened anticipation that theOne coming to them would fill them with joy. How doyou think of joy? Is it the same as happiness? Have youasked for this gift?Mon., Dec. 12thZec 2:14-17;Lk 1:26-38Tues., Dec. 13thZep 3:1-2, 9-13;Mt 21:28-32READINGS FOR THE WEEKWed., Dec. 14thIs 45:6b-8, 18, 21b-25Lk 7:18b-23Thurs., Dec. 15thIs 54:1-10;Lk 7:24-30Fri., Dec. 16thIs 56:1-3a, 6-8;Jn 5:33-36