3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C
First Reading: Zep 3:14-18a
Second Reading: Phil 4:4-7
Gospel Reading: Lk 3:10-18
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near,” we hear in the Entrance Antiphon. The first word gives this Sunday its Latin name: Gaudete Sunday, when the priest may wear rose vestments instead of purple.
“Advent” comes from the Latin adventus: “a coming, approach, or arrival.” Advent’s theme is preparation; its mood is expectation. During the first two weeks, we focus on Christ’s second coming; from Dec. 17 on, on his coming birth.
“Rejoice and exult with all your heart,” the First Reading urges. “Do not worry about anything,” St. Paul echoes.
Do not worry about anything. It is an injunction many of us need to hear at this time of the year.
We celebrate Christ’s coming at Christmas with gifts. That means we have to buy them, or make them, before Dec. 25. Accordingly, for many of us, the Advent season has become the shopping season.
We celebrate Christmas by getting together with friends and sharing a feast. That, too, takes a great deal of preparation, especially if we follow John the Baptist’s advice: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.”
We celebrate Christmas by decorating our houses. “Make your house fair as you are able; trim the hearth and set the table,” says the hymn People, Look East. Again, we have to do it ahead of time, during Advent.
Yes, the celebration of Christmas takes four weeks of preparation. Accordingly, during Advent, we often greet each other with the question, “Are you all ready for Christmas?”
This is something we should each ask ourselves. What does it mean? What should it mean?
First, we must prepare our hearts to welcome Christ. That means examining our consciences, admitting our sins (including our habitual sins), confessing them to a priest, resolving not to repeat them, and carrying out our resolve. “Guard the nest that must be filled,” the hymn urges.
Second, we must deepen our person-to-person relationship with Jesus by prayer and participation in the Mass – during the week, if possible, as well as on Sunday. In particular, we should make our Christmas Mass the very centre of our celebration, not something we schedule so as to put it behind us and leave ourselves free to open presents and eat festive food.
Third, we must give gifts with the purpose of helping people rejoice in Christ’s birth: not spending more than we can afford, or trying to impress our friends, or fulfilling an obligation imposed by their gifts to us. We should consider giving something of ourselves, like our time, our attention, or our help.
Fourth, we must make our decorations point to what we are celebrating: the human birth of God the Son for our salvation. For example, we can make our Christmas tree form a backdrop for a nativity scene; we can surmount it with an angel instead of a fairy.
Fifth, we must not let our Christmas dinner pass without any mention of Jesus, our principal Guest.
Unlike the secular world, the Church does not celebrate Christmas during Advent; she waits for the Baby to be born. Then, starting with the vigil the evening of Dec. 24, she celebrates Christmas Day for a full octave, or eight days. She continues to rejoice throughout the Christmas Season, which lasts until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrated this year Jan. 9.
The Christmas Octave and the Christmas season are the time for parties. Advent, when “Love, the Guest, is on the way,” is the time for preparation.
Starting this Sunday, try to withdraw as much as possible from the “Christmas rush” and participate in Advent. Then “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” as St. Paul says.
Then you will truly be ready for Christmas.
Father Hawkswell is again teaching The Catholic Faith in Plain English in both written and YouTube form at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. Session 13, available on YouTube Dec. 12, is “God, Unity and Trinity.”