Homily For Third Sunday of Advent Year C (Gaudete Sunday), 15th December 2024

 

Readings: Zep. 3:14-18; Ps. Is. 12:2-6; Phil. 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

REJOICE! REJOICE! BUT HOW CAN WE REJOICE IN THE WORLD OF CRISIS, WICKEDNESS AND SIN?

The entrance antiphon of today’s Mass begins by saying: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Yes, every third Sunday of Advent the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday in Advent season when we are called to rejoice for the coming of the Lord is very near.

On this Sunday, we put on rose vestments a colour that is only used twice in the entire liturgical year, first on a day like this when we celebrate the Gaudete Sunday and secondly on the fourth Sunday of Lent when we celebrate the Laetare Sunday. This Gaudete Sunday is named as such because we are called to rejoice in the Lord forever.

So, our focus this Sunday is on the theme of Joy, and we can recall that for the past two Sundays of Advent, our focus was on the aspects of Hope and Peace. Today, this theme of Joy ushers us into the most important disposition of the season of Advent that calls us to prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas, when the true Joy of the Lord will be born in our hearts.

Little wonder prophet Zephaniah, in our first reading today, said: 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 The Lord has repealed your sentence; he has driven your enemies away.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.

This message of hope and joy came at a time when the people of Israel had just returned from their long exile in Babylon, for they had faced great humiliation and suffering due to their infidelities and stubbornness, their abandonment of God, His laws and commandments. Because of these grievous sins, they were sent to exile in Babylon where they were brought low and defeated, but as the Lord remembered them and saved them once again, prophet Zephaniah called them once again to rejoice.

Dear friends, the ugly situation humanity has found herself today is quite similar to the situation of the people of Israel in Babylon and this can prevent us from rejoicing. Today, humanity has found herself in Babylon of different degrees, and it seems as if there is no hope for her restoration, and this has taken our joy away. Today, we have found ourselves in deep Babylon of sin, corruption, impurity, immorality and evil of the highest order; hence to rejoice becomes difficult.

We have found ourselves in Babylon of iniquities of the highest degree, we have found ourselves in Babylon of wars and killing of each other. We have found ourselves in Babylon of hatred as never before. People hate each other at different levels, colours, and religions, even within our families and shamelessly among married couples.

Oh humanity, we have chosen to dwell in Babylon of greediness, where one will choose to kill, blackmail and tarnish the good image of people just to have it all, I, I, I, me, me, me, is the slogan of the day, if I can’t have it no one will have it. Oh, poor humanity, why have we chosen to dwell in Babylon of immorality at the highest level in the history of mankind?

No single respect for the sanctity of the human body and soul. We dine in sexual immoralities of different degrees and we package them with beautiful names to make them even more captivating. Everything we do now must be sexy in order to gain recognition.

What is going on with us? When will this Babylon be over? When are we going to say no to these ugly ways of life? When will we say no to oppression and criminal activities? When will we say no to killing, blackmail and tarnishing of the good image of one another?

When will we say no to corruption, impurity and greediness? When will we say no to hatred and unforgiveness? When will we say yes to the life of integrity, holiness, and purity of heart? When will we say yes to goodwill and care for one another? When will we say yes to peace, love, kindness and respect for one another?

Today in our Gospel passage, we heard the people, after embracing the message of John the Baptist, asked him, saying: what then should we do? How can we begin anew? How can we say no to these ugly ways of life? John said to them: If anyone has two tunics he must share, that is charity, we must be charitable. He said ‘Exact no more than your rate, that is, a call to quit corruption, impurity, greediness and immortality. ’No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay.

My dear friends, we can truly rejoice when we embrace this message of John the Baptist. We can only rejoice when we say yes to God and no to evil. We can only rejoice when we become agents of peace. And when this happens, we can now embrace the words of St Paul in our first-second reading where he said: Rejoice, always rejoice in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near. Fear not, but let the peace of the Lord reign in your heart. Remember, the birth of Jesus is the reason why we are rejoicing.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we thank you for the gift of your love and joy as you call us to rejoice today in preparation for the coming of your Son, our Lord Jesus; help us to do away with our ugly ways of life that prevent us from obtaining your true Joy. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Sunday.