Rejoicing in the Big Picture

Rejoicing in the Big Picture
Homily for December 13, 2015    Third Sunday of Advent - C
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi

One of the top-selling items, if not THE top selling items during Black Friday sales, were large-screen flat-screen TVs.  They’ve been top-selling items year after year, and the sets just keep getting bigger and bigger.

And yet, just because they have a bigger picture, it doesn’t mean that we can SEE the bigger picture on them.  Images may seem bigger than life, but the messages they convey are often narrow and misleading, even destructive to our very soul.

What did all four prophets in today’s readings – Zephaniah, Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist have in common?  They all saw the bigger picture.  And their message?

REJOICE in the Lord Always!  I shall say it again: REJOICE! The LORD, our God, is in our midst even now; He has not abandoned us to our troubles and tribulations but extends His Love and Mercy with the promise of better things to come.

Today we celebrate Gau-de-tay’ Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Advent.  Gaudete means Rejoice!, and so we should, as we have passed the half-way mark of our journey toward Christmas.  We pause in our Advent preparations to remind ourselves of the promise of joy that is to come. We light the rose-colored candle in our Advent wreath, and we don festive rose-colored vestments.  (Yes, these are ROSE, not pink. Like in that old 80’s movie, girls may be “Pretty in Pink”, but not clergy.  Besides, have you ever heard of “pink” wine?)
So, this may be a good time to ask ourselves – are we still excited about the coming of Christmas?  Are we joyful?  Or are we being worn down by the minutiae of our preparations and the false messages of despair that seem to come to us from every direction?

If we are not careful, we can lose the joy of what we should be anticipating.  After all, we are surrounded by evil in the news – so why should we rejoice?  We know of friends and family members who have died and we miss those who cannot share the holidays with us – so why should we rejoice?  We cannot afford to celebrate the holidays in a matter that is being emphasized in the commercials we see and hear – so why should we rejoice?  We have so many things that are pressing in upon us – challenges to our health, our families, our well-being – so why rejoice?

Because God IS with us.

In our first reading, the prophet Zephaniah encourages Israel to sing for joy and to rejoice in anticipation of God’s mercy.  Written around 650 to 600 BC, Zephaniah had previously prophesized that Israel, by rejecting God, were going to suffer the Assyrian invasion, but that God remained with them and would restore their kingdom.  God loved them, He would show them His mercy.

St. Paul is even more insistent.  REJOICE ALWAYS!  And yet scholars are pretty certain that Paul himself was in prison when he wrote this, either in Rome, or possibly in Caesarea or another city of his travels.  In any case, Paul tells the Philippians that he was fairly certain that his execution was close at hand, yet he was at peace with the Peace of Jesus Christ, which surpasses all understanding, and that through Jesus he had no anxiety over the problems that he faced.

And then in the Gospel, we listen to John the Baptist tell us about how we should prepare for the presence of Christ in their lives – to continue to live our lives and to carry out our jobs in honesty and integrity, with a charitable heart.  And despite his exhortations about what NOT to do, John continued to preach the “good news” to the people that Christ is coming – God is with them.

Last Tuesday, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis opened the Door of Mercy at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, beginning a Jubilee of Mercy, a year for us to encounter and share in the Divine Mercy of God.  THIS is something worth rejoicing.  God’s Mercy has always been there for us; God’s Mercy will always be there for us.  God’s Mercy is infinite.

The people that Zephaniah spoke to couldn’t see what the future held for them. In the responsorial for today the prophet Isaiah spoke to a people in exile.  The Jews that John the Baptist preached to were oppressed by the Romans, and St. Paul was headed to his death.  But all preached an attitude of joy in the LORD, and all looked to the big picture of God’s infinite mercy.  The evils of this world WILL pass away.  The troubles we face today we do not face alone.  Emmanuel, God with Us, is here, offering us love, mercy and peace.  During this Year of Mercy, may we accept that God loves us, cries with us, laughs with us, rejoices with us.

I shall say it again.  Rejoice!  Christ is near – let us go out and welcome him.