Third Sunday of Advent
St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
Zeph 3:14-18; Phil 4:4-7; Lk 3:10-18
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
13 Dec 2009
These readings for the third Sunday of Advent have the dual message of Advent loud and clear. First of all we should rejoice, because of the marvellous event which is approaching. The psalm's refrain is "Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel".
Zephaniah put it a bit differently, and sometimes a bit too aggressively. "The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst, you have no more evil to fear." A few lines further on he describes the Lord who has driven Israel's enemies away as a "victorious warrior".
This harks back to the suspicion of some scholars that John the Baptist was expecting a fierce Messiah like Elijah of old and helps explain the general mindset of the Jews then which was scandalized by the prospect of the Messiah dying on a cross: and probably by a Messiah being born in a stable.
The second part of the Advent message is encapsulated in the request of the people to John the Baptist. "What must we do?" now that the Messiah is coming.
Do your duty John explained to the different categories of person: the comfortable, the tax collectors, the soldiers. All are called to follow the Messiah, who is not John himself "I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals," he explained vividly.
We too are called to repent and believe; to do our duty in our respective and immensely different tasks or vocations. If you believe you are in your correct niche, whatever your task, homemaker, student, employee or employer; if you believe God has a plan for each one of us, for you, then that is a vocation.
Generally, and quite properly, the accent is on interior renewal, on preparing our hearts to celebrate Christ's birth. This is one consequence of the long-term significance of the Incarnation. Jesus' coming is not like the visit of a much loved grandparent, aunt or uncle to a family of young children. Often the children are delighted and excited by such a visit, but the visitors leave and then life goes on with parents and children.
According to John the Baptist, the Messiah's visit is different. "His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out." Jesus' coming is a challenge, which provokes change of one kind or another with long-term consequences.
Certainly Advent is a time for personal confession, to confess our sins and receive absolution in the sacrament of penance. It is a good guarantee of the seriousness of our preparation for the Christmas feast.
However I want to conclude these few Advent musings, not by concentrating on our heart of hearts, but on our external and even public activities. Generally what is in our hearts is expressed publicly; in turn these external activities reinforce our inner convictions.
How often and in what ways do we give public expression to our faith, to our membership of the Catholic Church?
Let us start with Christmas. When we choose our Christmas cards, do we insist on cards which reflect the Incarnation, rather than Santa, or reindeers, or an Australian bush scene?
Do we wish people a happy Christmas or simply "Seasons greetings"? Do we erect a crib in our house?
In fact when people come into our homes could they ever guess that we are Christians? Are there any Christian symbols, like a cross or crucifix, in our lounge rooms or at the entrance to our home? Do we urge the teenagers in our families that when they are decorating their bedrooms or study places that they should include a crucifix, perhaps a picture of Mary, mother of God; perhaps a portrait of a saint they admire?
Would we ever wear a cross around our neck, any visible personal sign of loyalty to Christ?
Inner convictions have to be externally manifested, expressed in community if they are to continue as real and effective, because we are made of body as well as soul, and our personality and our convictions are expressed through our actions.
This is one reason why we come together in community worship every Sunday for Mass, rather than claiming that we pray/meditate quietly at home as an alternative. This is why we have marriage ceremonies, as the spouses publicly proclaim their love to one another. It is part of the rationale for all the sacraments, because we are community persons of flesh and blood. This public dimension is one reason why individual confession and priestly absolution are so important.
On most Christmases there is a mild flutter as persons like myself urge publicly that we keep Christ in Christmas. That is why we have the crib in the square before the Cathedral and more public Christmas decorations than in the past. We should get serious and do some long-term planning to encourage this. But we cannot blame businesses too much, especially businesses run by non-Christians or ex-Christians, for their failings in this matter, if we never advertise personally our own Catholicism.
Would our workmates, or friends at university know that we are Catholic? In conversation are we prepared to defend and explain the Catholic position on controversial issues?
I have asked many questions, which we might describe as Advent questions, prompted by our public celebrations of the birth of the Son of God.
People with something to sell or share, know that it is important to advertise. A good cause needs to be publicised.
If we are never prepared, or rarely prepared, to advertise that we are Catholics, followers of Christ, what does this tell us of our inner convictions, about the quality of our faith?
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
