December 12th 2021.  Gaudete Sunday - Third Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Luke 3, 10-18

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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GOSPEL: Luke 3, 10-18

The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?”
He said to them in reply, “Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him, “And what is it that we should do?”
He told them, “Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”
Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize 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 with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARIZED HOMILY

1. John the Baptist shows us how to place ourselves in the right condition to receive the Lord, but good actions do not redeem us. The Gospel is the announcement of what God does, not what we have done.

This third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday – recalls that authentic faith leads to the joy of salvation. In the first reading from Zephaniah we are told to rejoice because we have been liberated from our condemnation: “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! The LORD has removed the judgment against you”. In last week’s Gospel, John the Baptist spoke about levelling the mountains and valleys, but this week’s passage contains practical advice for doing good, acts of kindness, generosity and fraternity. Even the soldiers and tax-collectors – the latter were considered irredeemable – are given concrete instructions for placing themselves on the path of salvation. All of these instructions represent what a human being can do to better himself. The people start to believe that John is the Messiah, but he corrects them, for the joy that the real Messiah brings is not something that can be obtained by our actions alone. In another passage from the Gospels, Jesus tells us that John is the greatest man ever born, but is yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, what the Baptist brings is not the salvation of the Messiah. In fact, John himself says that he is only pointing to the one who is coming, the stronger one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

 

2. Our good actions cannot vanquish the sin that is within us.

The Good News contained here is that the power of God goes beyond our works and can achieve what we cannot manage by ourselves. We are unable to vanquish the ancient evil that is within us, but Jesus is stronger and can overcome it and renew our lives. If the Good News was simply an announcement of what we can achieve, then the Gospel would be nothing more than a code of ethics. The true Gospel involves placing ourselves on the path of the good – as John teaches – and then Goodness himself comes to us, enters into our existence, removing our folly, our stubbornness, the interior burdens that distort us and make us ugly. The Gospel is not an announcement of what humanity does but what God does. Yet, it is essential that we make the effort to do good and to place ourselves in a condition to receive the Lord when he comes.

 

3. Jesus brings the Holy Spirit, a fire that purifies that within us which is immature and unresolved, leading to a life that is joyful and fruitful.

Then we will be baptised – immersed fully and intimately – with the Holy Spirit. The fire mentioned here is, above all, a fire that purifies, eliminates. May this fire arrive in our hearts and burn away that which is immature, infantile, blocked, unresolved, so that the Holy Spirit can thus give us the joy of living, the beauty and joy of salvation. The salvation offered to us by the Lord is much greater than our good intentions or our force of will. It is something that can transform our lives into something beautiful. This is not a theory. Many men and women of history have experienced this eruption of God in their lives, the new life that burns the chaff with inextinguishable flams and yields the good wheat.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

On this Gaudete Sunday, we hear the preaching of the good news by John the Baptist. But wait a minute – did you say “good news”?  Why then does John preach about being shaken and cleansed and purified by fire? In order to receive the good news of salvation, we must first turn away from sin, selfishness, mediocrity. John the Baptist does not provide the solution for an authentic and full life, but he prepares us for it by presenting us with the first essential step. And this is not easy. We cannot begin to do good until we have stopped doing evil. It is not easy for us to give up those habits and practices that are oriented towards ourselves. We are asked to begin by making this small step, by doing what is possible for us, so that the Lord can then enter our lives and do the impossible!

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