3rd Sunday in Advent
December 14, 2014
4 PM Vigil Liturgy
J.A. Loftus, S.J.
The readings for Advent are always beautiful and striking.
They also provide some marvelous people to accompany us
through the season. Today is no exception.
We have Isaiah’s almost poetic job description for the
Messiah. You will remember, I’m sure; it is the very same passage
that Jesus chooses to describe himself. “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me for he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to
heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
release to the prisoners.”
And then we have St Paul joining the chorus with his
injunction to all of us to keep rejoicing. Rejoice always, he says,
because the one who calls us to this celebration is faithful, and will
also accomplish everything that has begun in each of us.
And finally, a young John the Baptist chimes in.
“There is one among you whom you do not recognize, one whose
sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
Three fascinating characters to accompany us on our Advent
journey. We could meditate on any one of them with great profit.
But they share something in common that may be even more
interesting.
St. John’s gospel provides the common clue. He says of John
the Baptist that he, John, had only one purpose in life. And he
shares that single purpose with both Isaiah and Paul. John came
for testimony, “to testify to the light.” “He was not the light, but
came to testify to the light.”
This season is all about light, and about spreading the light. It
is no accident that the date for our celebration of Christmas comes
so close to the celebration of the winter solstice, now dated to be
about the 21st of December.
It is no accident that there was a Roman feast day celebrated
long before the time of Jesus about the same time of year. It was
called the Dies Sol Invictus, the day of the unquenchable Sun. There
is even a nice play on a word in English. In Latin the word for sun
is sol. The old Roman sun (s-u-n) has become the celebration of the
Son (S-o-n). He is “The Light of the World” who comes into our
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world again and again. And it all starts in a little town called
Bethlehem.
It is no accident that our Jewish friends celebrate with light at
Hanukah (a feast that begins this Wednesday); eight candles burn
day by day to remember God’s faithful promise.
It is no accident that Zoroastrians celebrate light in their own
liturgical ways. It is no accident that many people still celebrate
the simple fact of the solstice. Light is unquenchable—year after
year after year. Thank God. Winter can get so dreary and dark!
And humans have known this since the beginning of time.
It is also no accident that we have tried to accentuate the
meaning of light in this season with a special prayer and lighting of
our Advent candle. It is already getting brighter in this church
week-by week.
But this is not just about Jesus, or the little baby who
eventually comes into this empty crib. No, it is primarily about
sharing this light throughout the world. The season is primarily an
invitation to each one of us. Our Pope has been insistent about this
invitation. For him, this light is all about the Joy of the Gospel. It is
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about being in the joy of the gospel ourselves and sharing it with
others constantly. It is the Light of the World that can bring
nothing but joy and Peace!
Emily Dickenson says in one of her poems: “There are two
ways of spreading the light. One is to be the light itself. The other
is to become the mirror that reflects the light to others.” Only in
more grandiose moments do any of us think we are the light
ourselves. But we can all be the mirror that reflects the light. That
is the invitation of the season. We ought to be polishing the
mirrors to be blinding our world and all its inhabitants with love,
and with healing of the brokenhearted in our communities, and
with release from all the ties that bind us.
We should have thought of providing “spiritual” polishing
cloths at the exits of the church today. That’s really the invitation
and the challenge to us all.
Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist did just that with their lives.
As I said at the outset, the Advent readings are beautiful and
striking. But they are also sobering. The manger is still dark for
far too many people in this world. There is too little real joy. So we
need to polish those mirrors harder! Peace!
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