First Reading - Zephaniah
3:14-18 ©
Responsorial Psalm - Isaiah
12 ©
Second Reading - Philippians
4:4-7 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Is 61:1
(Lk4:18)
The Gospel of the Day – Luke
3:10-18 ©
(NJB)
Hear
this and remember it, God, the creator of the universe, God is not a warrior.
God
does not intervene in human affairs, either to pass judgement or to grant
reprieve.
God
has no enemies.
God
is love.
There
is wisdom in the words of the Prophet, listen to it.
Be
patient; salvation flows from the wellspring of God, from this life into the
next.
Great
are the deeds of the creator, the creator of the universe is great. God set the
galaxies spinning in their course through the heavens, the stars in their
clusters, and the planets in their orbit
It
is the desire of God, creator of the universe; it is the desire of God that all
people be well, be happy, be loving and good.
God
desires that we be tolerant and care for one another, that we serve the
happiness of our neighbors through charity and in love.
Herein
lies the peace of God, in the work of a servant.
God
knows us, each and every one of us, God knows what we struggle with, God knows
the content of our dreams.
Praise
God, and give comfort to God’s servant, when the will of God is done, the
message is clear, and the mission is pure. They are one in the same thing, the
message and the mission is love.
Here
the Good news.
The
authors of Luke want to tell us about
something about Jesus, through a narrative concerning Saint John the Baptist.
Take
a moment and reflect on the wisdom of John has given to us here.
The
spirit of truth was in him, as it is in all of us. We are created in the divine
image, in the image of God, God made us.
We
are with innate capacities for reason, wisdom, and love. It is these qualities we
are referring to when we say that we are made in the image of God; creator of
the universe.
Everyone
and everything in the universe, every moment of time flows from and is
sustained by the providence of God.
We
did not then (in the time of John), and we do not now need to wait for the
anointed one, for a Christ to preach to us and tell us the truth.
The
truth is spoken all around us, in ordinary moments, in normal conversation, the
truth is speaking to you in your own heart, at the core of your being; you may
find it in the seed of God’s Word that is germinating within you; just as it
was spoken by John to those that followed him, and by Jesus who came later.
“What
must we do?” The people asked.
John
and Jesus responded according to the best tradition of the prophets
Give.
Share.
Act
mercifully.
Be
kind.
Act
justly.
Be
well.
Act
lovingly.
Do
no harm.
Ahimsa
Execute
your offices and fulfill the trust that has been placed in you faithfully; do
it without corruption.
There
is nothing extraordinary in these precepts. This is the ordinary way of life
that we are called to.
Nevertheless,
this message stunned the people who heard it preached from the Mount of Olives,
by the River Jordan, to hear the truth spoken so simply, with such conviction. It
alarmed those who listened so much so that they thought John might a divine
being, and they became conviced that Jesus was.
Why
is this our response to the truth when we hear it?
It
is precisely because the solution to the world’s sickness (the desire to sin
and the love of evil) is so simple that when we try to imagine these solutions
coming to fruition in our own lives, we get lost in the overwhelming reality of
what is.
We
are awash in sin and the consequences of sin, our and everyone’s, both the
living and the dead. As if we were trying to hold back an ocean of greed, hate
and fear with a wall made of paper, as thin as a wish.
In
the here and now, we all know what the solution is, and yet we do not faith in
one another, we do not trust that each of us will do our part to stop. This is
because it is evident that many have no desire to do their part, no desire at
all.
The
realities of sin and evil are so prevalent, so vast that when we try to imagine
a resolution to them with the only solutions that are available to us (love and
mercy), the scope of the problems takes on a cosmic significance.
Remember
this:
No
matter how great the reality of sin and evil are, they are rooted in time and
space, they are finite, as such, they are infinitely less than the infinite
love of God.
This
is the mystery of the Gospel
John
was wise when he set aside a claim to divinity; when he set aside the
expectation that he was himself an anointed being come to solve the world’s
problems. He knew that they would not be
solved in his lifetime, not in the final sense, because sin and evil are a part
of the human condition.
He
also knew that another would come to pick up his mantle, to carry on that work,
he was confident in this knowledge because he understood the nature and role of
the prophet, and that the truth is spoke in every generation, in every
community, in all times.
John
was wise to point his followers to the future, because we are led into the
place of justice and mercy only by our desire for it. We are led by the power
of hope, and through the expectation of its realization.
It
is not necessary for us to believe as the Gospel writers did, that John was
pointing to the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, because, if it had not been Jesus,
it would have been someone else, as it will be someone else in our own future, because
God’s redemptive work never ends.
When
we are on God’s threshing floor, we must understand that we arrived there as we
are, a complete person, we came as the whole stalk of wheat.
That
is how we encounter God, in our entirety; each of us as a whole person.
The
wheat and the chaff are not separate people, sinners and saints. We are each of
us the wheat, and the chaff together, saint and sinner combined in one body.
It
is the encounter with the divine that frees us from the compulsions and
addictions that bind us to our sins.
Gods
winnowing fan blows against us like the wind, it is the breath of the Holy
Spirit blowing over us and flowing into us; freeing us from the fear and hate, from
the desires that cause us to lie, cheat, steal, to harm our neighbors, even
those we love.
The
Spirit ruhah carries us to the fire
where all of that doubt is burned away, not in a fire of prosecution, judgement
and destruction, but in the fires of transformation, purification, and hope.
When
we pass through it, we become a new creation.
First Reading - Zephaniah
3:14-18 ©
The Lord, the King of
Israel, is in Your Midst
Shout
for joy, daughter of Zion,
Israel,
shout aloud!
Rejoice,
exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!
The
Lord has repealed your sentence; he has driven your enemies away.
The
Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst; you have no more evil to fear.
When
that day comes, word will come to Jerusalem: Zion, have no fear, do not let
your hands fall limp.
The
Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.
He
will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love; he will dance with
shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.
Responsorial Psalm - Isaiah
12 ©
The Rejoicing of a Redeemed
People
Sing and shout for joy
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Truly,
God is my salvation,
I trust, I shall not fear.
For
the Lord is my strength, my song,
he became my saviour.
With
joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
Sing and shout for joy
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Give
thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!
Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples!
Declare the greatness of his name.
Sing and shout for joy
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Sing
a psalm to the Lord
for he has done glorious deeds;
make them known to all the earth!
People
of Zion, sing and shout for joy,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of
Israel.
Sing and shout for joy
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Second Reading - Philippians
4:4-7 ©
The Lord is Very Near
I
want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your
happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near.
There
is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God
for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much
greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in
Christ Jesus.
Gospel Acclamation – Is 61:1
(Lk4:18)
Alleluia, alleluia!
The
spirit of the Lord has been given to me.
He
has sent me to bring the good news to the poor.
Alleluia!
Gospel - Luke 3:10-18 ©
'Someone is Coming Who Will
Baptize You With the Holy Spirit and Fire'
When
all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two
tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to
eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and
these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more
than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What
must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with
your pay!’
A
feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think
that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you
with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and
I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the
Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his
threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will
burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other
things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.
The Third Sunday of
Advent
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