Fr. John O’Callaghan. This Sunday is traditionally called ‘Gaudete Sunday’. That is because, on the surface level, “Gaudete” is the first word sung during the entrance hymn, “Rejoice….”. But, on a deeper level, it is because, as we move closer to Christmas, we have very good reason to rejoice. Someone might suggest that, on the contrary, we have a great deal to complain about: apart from personal challenges, there is the rising cost of living, record levels of homelessness, wars new and old, climate challenges and political inertia in the face of it. A list of current dangers and disasters, here and around the world, is available in any newspaper. So, why rejoice? Because, precisely it is into a troubled world, into a conflicted space, that God is sure to make Himself present.
A core message from Zephaniah, from whom our first reading is taken, is that ‘the Lord will have his day against all the proud and lofty, against all that is high and arrogant’. Zephaniah was aware of evil, especially idolatry, among his own people and he was aware of threats of invasion from neighbouring populations but, nonetheless, he spoke the word of truth that God would protect his chosen people and offer a time of favour and reconciliation. This allowed him to proclaim, in God’s name, ‘Have no fear!’ and to assert, despite appearances, that ‘The Lord your God is in your midst!’
The same but better, with John the Baptist, in today’s gospel! His time was also one of conflict, corruption and challenges of all kinds, between Romans and rebellious Jews, and amongst the different factions of the Jewish people etc. There were hopes of a messiah. John announced the coming of ‘someone more powerful than himself and of whom he was not fit to undo the strap of his sandals.’ This exalted figure was Christ himself and this ‘day of the Lord’ was of a much higher order than anything gone before. Born of the Virgin Mary, and of the smallest tribe of Israel, Christ came in silence and humility, to share in our humanity. In him God did not just send somebody else, he came himself. He wanted to inaugurate his kingdom by being born in an insignificant place and amongst the common people, to make ordinary people His people. He came without needing us; it is we who have needed him. And the way he has done it touches our hearts. It can change the direction of our lives and thus change the world. In this season of advent we recall the special ‘time of favour’ when love came (in person) close to the human race. Love was the only reason for the incarnation. By it our minds are enlightened, our hopes are enlivened and our energy renewed; and so it is that we can live as the people of God.
Immersed like everyone else in the complexity of modern life, Christians remain unshakably certain that God is our Father and loves us, even when his silence remains incomprehensible. “If you understand him,” as St Augustine said, “He is not God”.
Faith, hope and charity go together. Faith is seen when one accepts the mystery of God through humility and trusts him even in times of darkness. Hope is seen when one continues to do good work for the common good, even in the face of apparent failure. Love is the light, in the end the only light, that can illumine a world grown dim. We can practise it because we are created in the image of God. Let us spread this light of God in the world; then, of its own, the darkness will disappear!