Advent 3B.12; Isa 61:1-11; 1 Thess 5:16-24; John 1:6-28
Today is Gaudete Sunday (Latin/“rejoice”). The readings overflow with joy.
“I rejoice heartily in the Lord,” we read in Isaiah.
“Rejoice always,” urges Paul.
Today’s gospel seems, in some ways, not to fit. John the Baptist’s speech is full of negations: “I am not the Messiah…not Elijah…not the Prophet” but rather, “the voice of one crying out in the desert.”
Yet in that solitary, lowly task there is joy. There’s the comfort & assurance of knowing who you are & what you are doing. There’s the joy of anticipation, of preparing the way, of looking forward to the one who is to come. John may seem like a negative figure, but in some ways he’s like a child waiting for Christmas with a sense of anticipation, a certainty that something, no Someone wonderful … is coming. We share in this anticipated joy. It’s not always clear what we are waiting for or should be happy about. But as Christians, we know that there is more than this life-there is something yet to come. (Adapted; Living With Christ, 12/11)
How do we do this?
A story is told of a monastery that had fallen on hard times. The monks did not talk with one another; there are no new, young monks; & people had stopped coming for spiritual direction. In the woods that surrounded the monastery a rabbi lived in a small hut. Occasionally, the monks would see the rabbi walking in the woods &, almost hypnotically, they would say to one another, “The rabbi walks in the woods.”
The abbot was greatly distraught at the decline of the monastery. He had prayed & pondered over the situation. He admonished the mood & behavior of the monks. All to no avail. One day he saw the rabbi walking in the woods & decided to ask his advice. He walked up behind the rabbi. The rabbi turned, and when the abbot & the rabbi faced one another, both began to weep. The sorrow of the situation affected them deeply. The abbot knew he did not have to explain the decline of the monastery. He merely asked, “Can you give me some direction so the monastery will thrive again?”
“One of us is the Messiah,” the abbot said the words slowly, almost incredulously. The monks began talking to one another. “One of us? Who? Brother John, Brother Andrew? Could it even be the abbot?”
2 Slowly, things began to change at the monastery. The monks began to look for the Messiah in each other & listen to each other’s words for the
Messiah’s voice. Soon new, younger monks joined, & people returned to the monastery for spiritual solace & direction. (Story: /Eating with the Bridegroom; Shea p.32)
The truth of the story was not in the objective fact of whether one of the monks was the Messiah. The truth was at the level of consciousness, the increased awareness that the story created in the monks, & maybe you, too.
We are waiting on the future. Did you know that the Hebrew prophets define “future” differently than we do? The Hebrew word is aharit. This is unusual because it literally means “afterward, backwards or after part”. So, how can it be about the future? Imagine sitting in a rowboat & you see where you have been while you are moving forward. You can see how it can be better & then, suddenly, you arrive there, the distant shore of the future.
Back to the gospel….
The past does not have the last word.
Nothing is as difficult as really accepting our own life. More often then not the present is denied, the past becomes a source of complaints, and the future is looked upon as a reason for despair or apathy.
At this Advent Liturgy, remember that Jesus came to redeem us, to free us from the boundaries of time. Through him it became clear not only that God is with us wherever we are but also that our past can be remembered & forgiven, and that we are still waiting for him to come back and reveal to us what remains unseen. What hidden beauty lies within you?
Celebration is also filled with expectations for the future.
Seek the Messiah, you might just find him!
Today is Gaudete Sunday (Latin/“rejoice”). The readings overflow with joy.
“I rejoice heartily in the Lord,” we read in Isaiah.
“Rejoice always,” urges Paul.
Today’s gospel seems, in some ways, not to fit. John the Baptist’s speech is full of negations: “I am not the Messiah…not Elijah…not the Prophet” but rather, “the voice of one crying out in the desert.”
Yet in that solitary, lowly task there is joy. There’s the comfort & assurance of knowing who you are & what you are doing. There’s the joy of anticipation, of preparing the way, of looking forward to the one who is to come. John may seem like a negative figure, but in some ways he’s like a child waiting for Christmas with a sense of anticipation, a certainty that something, no Someone wonderful … is coming. We share in this anticipated joy. It’s not always clear what we are waiting for or should be happy about. But as Christians, we know that there is more than this life-there is something yet to come. (Adapted; Living With Christ, 12/11)
How do we do this?
A story is told of a monastery that had fallen on hard times. The monks did not talk with one another; there are no new, young monks; & people had stopped coming for spiritual direction. In the woods that surrounded the monastery a rabbi lived in a small hut. Occasionally, the monks would see the rabbi walking in the woods &, almost hypnotically, they would say to one another, “The rabbi walks in the woods.”
The abbot was greatly distraught at the decline of the monastery. He had prayed & pondered over the situation. He admonished the mood & behavior of the monks. All to no avail. One day he saw the rabbi walking in the woods & decided to ask his advice. He walked up behind the rabbi. The rabbi turned, and when the abbot & the rabbi faced one another, both began to weep. The sorrow of the situation affected them deeply. The abbot knew he did not have to explain the decline of the monastery. He merely asked, “Can you give me some direction so the monastery will thrive again?”
The rabbi said, “One of you is the Messiah.”
Then he turned & continued to walk in the woods.
The abbot returned to the monastery. The monks had seen him talking to the rabbi who walks in the woods. They asked, “What did the rabbi say?”“One of us is the Messiah,” the abbot said the words slowly, almost incredulously. The monks began talking to one another. “One of us? Who? Brother John, Brother Andrew? Could it even be the abbot?”
2 Slowly, things began to change at the monastery. The monks began to look for the Messiah in each other & listen to each other’s words for the
Messiah’s voice. Soon new, younger monks joined, & people returned to the monastery for spiritual solace & direction. (Story: /Eating with the Bridegroom; Shea p.32)
The truth of the story was not in the objective fact of whether one of the monks was the Messiah. The truth was at the level of consciousness, the increased awareness that the story created in the monks, & maybe you, too.
We are waiting on the future. Did you know that the Hebrew prophets define “future” differently than we do? The Hebrew word is aharit. This is unusual because it literally means “afterward, backwards or after part”. So, how can it be about the future? Imagine sitting in a rowboat & you see where you have been while you are moving forward. You can see how it can be better & then, suddenly, you arrive there, the distant shore of the future.
Back to the gospel….
He was not the light but came to testify to the light.
John the Baptist came to testify to the light. This sounds like a good posture for ministry & for life to me. We point to Jesus. Our witness is never about us. This witness is about God’s love & about experiencing his saving grace.
How can we witness to the Messiah? Remember the monks…..
What if we looked back at ourselves & each other seeking the best, the truthful, the just, the loving parts of our lives? The past does not have the last word.
Nothing is as difficult as really accepting our own life. More often then not the present is denied, the past becomes a source of complaints, and the future is looked upon as a reason for despair or apathy.
At this Advent Liturgy, remember that Jesus came to redeem us, to free us from the boundaries of time. Through him it became clear not only that God is with us wherever we are but also that our past can be remembered & forgiven, and that we are still waiting for him to come back and reveal to us what remains unseen. What hidden beauty lies within you?
Celebration is also filled with expectations for the future.
Seek the Messiah, you might just find him!