Third Sunday of Advent (Ordinary Form)

First Reading, Zephaniah 3:14-18a

The prophet Zephaniah whose name means "the watchman of the Lord" or "the hidden of the Lord" is offering something a little different from what most of his prophecies contain. Much of what is written from Zephaniah deals with punishments for idolatry and the destruction of nations. This Reading turns away from an atmosphere of condemnation and invites us to shout for joy, sing joyfully, be glad and exult and not be discouraged.

Today, much like the time this Reading was written, there are many things that could tempt us to be just the opposite. Zephaniah proclaims: "The Lord has removed the judgment against you." In the Septuagint the word "judgment" is translated to mean "iniquities." This prophecy also tells us that the Lord will renew us in His love. The Latin translates to mean "the Lord will be silent in His love." This is an interesting translation because the silence means that the Lord will no longer accuse us.

As we journey towards Christmas this Reading tells us that the King of Israel, the Lord, will be in our midst. Christmas is coming of which we celebrate God clothing Himself in Flesh. Shout for joy, sing joyfully indeed! Jesus has washed away our iniquities and turned away our enemies which are sin and death. Trust is so important in our spiritual life. As we continue to live in this valley of tears, if we trust in the Lord, our joy can never be taken away.

Second Reading, Philippians 4:4-7

The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally known as "Gaudete" Sunday, a Latin word meaning "Rejoice." Before the revision of the Mass the Introit was "Gaudete in Domino semper" (Rejoice in the Lord always). This Reading from Saint Paul was always included on Gaudete Sunday.

The final verse is a most comforting way to close by assuring us that God's peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. These last two verses really make a case for the harmonious relationship between prayer and peace. Through constant prayer we remain close to our Lord Who is our eternal Peace. And when embraced in His Peace there is no anxiety. Instead, rejoicing becomes a way of life.

This was the secret to Saint Paul's endurance; this was the secret known by so many of the great saints. In relationship to the season of Advent, there is cause for rejoicing. Quickly approaching is the day that eternal Joy and Peace was born of the Virgin Mary.

Gospel, Luke 3:10-18

In this Gospel you could almost say that John the Baptist is a figure of the Church; or at least he is doing what the Church is charged with: Preaching, evangelizing and doing the Lord's work. He begins by saying: "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." Charity is at the heart of all evangelizing and more specifically this verse is directed at charitable works towards the poor. The Church today is deeply involved with this mission with projects like food and clothing drives at local parishes, feeding the poor at soup kitchens as well as Religious Orders that are called to be on the front lines like Blessed Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. Saint Basil points out that charity to the poor is frequently recommended in Scripture as a powerful method of redeeming sin and reconciling us to Divine Mercy. Along those same lines Saint John Chrysostom refers to the poor as physicians, and their hands are an ointment for our wounds.

John the Baptist next aims his preaching at tax collectors and soldiers who had reputations of conducting themselves in ways that were less than ethical. Evangelizing and proclaiming the way of the Lord sometimes unfortunately, means pointing out what is not proper. Today, our culture has its own laundry list of things that are not in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. But even this uncomfortable duty of pointing these things out is done with charity. It is not done in a way of judgment, but instead it is done out of Christ-like love and concern for those who are heading down an ill-advised path.

All were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. Wouldn't it be wonderful if others thought the same about us? John is not the Christ and neither are we but we have a similar role. We are voices. Saint Augustine says: "John was a voice, but in the beginning was the Word. Take away the Word and what is a voice? When it conveys no meaning, it is just an empty sound." John, in humility, was quick to point out that He is not the Christ but a voice in the wilderness crying out: "Prepare the way of the Lord." And "preparing the way" means to make zealous and humble efforts to proclaim Jesus Christ as the conqueror of the world and the joy of our hearts and souls with the hope that others will also accept Him and invite Him to possess their hearts and souls. And a humble effort means first to acknowledge our own failings.

Saint Bernard actually spoke of not two, but a three-fold coming of Christ. The first is His birth; another is the final coming at the end of time; and the remaining one is hidden. The hidden coming is Christ dwelling within us. It is this indwelling that we are deputed to exhibit to a world that desperately needs Him.

Trusting in Her Tenderness

Most Holy Mother of Guadalupe,

who have shown your love

and your tenderness to the peoples of the American continent,

fill with joy and hope all the peoples and families of the world.
We entrust to you,

who go before us and guide us on our journey of faith

towards the eternal Homeland,

the joys, the plans, the anxieties

and the desires of all families.

O Mary,

to you we turn, trusting in your tenderness as Mother.

Do not ignore the prayers we address to you

for the whole world's families

in this crucial period in history; instead,

welcome us all in your heart as

Mother and guide us on our way towards the heavenly Homeland.

Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI

The Lord Finds Rest in the Hearts of the Meek

The words below are excerpted from “The Ladder of Divine Ascent” by Saint John Climacus. Saint John was a late sixth-century, early-to-mid-seventh-century hermit who early in his life left the world for solitude near Mount Sinai, where at the foot of that mountain he lived in a hermitage, studied the Christian virtues, the lives of the saints and lived a life of penance with mortifications. Late in his life the monks at Sinai wanted John Climacus to be their abbot to which he agreed. He did this for about four years before retiring to his hermitage. In this particular excerpt you’ll see the name of Paul the Simple. If you’re unfamiliar with him, Paul was a disciple of Saint Anthony of the desert. Paul searched for Anthony because he wanted to become a monk after he discovered that his wife was unfaithful to him. Under the tutelage of Anthony, Paul would eventually receive miraculous graces, one of which he successfully performed an exorcism on a demonic spirit that not even Saint Anthony was able to exorcise.

Meekness is the precursor of all humility, as the light of dawn comes before the sun. Listen to the Lord, our Light, with the order these virtues enter into the soul: “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of Heart” (Matthew 11:29). Thus, before gazing at the sun of humility we must let the light of meekness flow over us. The true order of these virtues teaches us that we cannot contemplate the sun until we have first become accustomed to the light.

Meekness is a consistent mind amid honor or dishonor. Meekness prays for a neighbor quietly and sincerely however troublesome he may be. Meekness is a rock looking out over the sea of anger that breaks the waves which come crashing on it and stays entirely unmoved. Meekness is the bulwark of patience, the door, indeed the mother of love, and the foundation of discernment. For it is said: “The Lord will teach His ways to the meek (Psalm 24:9). Meekness earns pardon for our sins and gives confidence to our prayers. Meekness makes a place for the Holy Spirit Who has spoken through Isaiah: “To whom shall I look if not the meek and the peaceful?” (Isaiah 66:2).

Meekness reinforces obedience, is a guide for brotherly love, curbs impulsiveness, appeases anger, is a source for joy and is the imitation of Christ. Meekness is a characteristic of the angels, it shackles demons, and is a shield against bitterness. The Lord finds rest in the hearts of the meek while the turbulent spirit is the home of the devil. According to the Gospel, the meek shall inherit the earth (cf. Matthew 5:4), indeed, rule over it; and the bad-tempered shall be carried off as a booty from their land.

The meek soul is a throne of simplicity but a wrathful mind is a creator of evil. A gentle soul will make a place for wise words since the “Lord will guide the meek in judgment” (Psalm 24:9), or rather, in discretion. The upright soul is the companion of humility while an evil one is the daughter of pride. The meek souls shall be filled with wisdom while the angry mind will cohabit with darkness and ignorance.

If you wish to draw the Lord to you, approach Him as disciples to a Master, in all simplicity, without duplicity, but openly and honestly. He wants the souls that come to Him to be simple and pure. You will never see simplicity separated from humility.

The evil man is a false prophet. He imagines that from words he can catch thoughts, and from outward appearances the truth of the heart.

I have seen good souls turn to evil by the example of evil people, and it amazed me that they could so quickly shed their natural simplicity and innocence. It is as easy for the honest to lapse as it is difficult for evildoers to change for the better. But a genuine turning away from the world for a life of obedience and silence has wonderfully healed wounds that seemed incurable.

If knowledge can cause most people to become vain, then perhaps a lack of learning contributes to humility. Paul the Simple was a shining example to us. He was the measure of blessed simplicity, and no one has ever seen or heard, or could see so much progress in so short of a time.

A simple monk is a rational and obedient animal. He lays his burden on his superior; and like the animal who never answers back to the master who yokes him, so the upright soul does not talk back to his superior. Instead he follows where he is directed to go to the utmost sacrifice for God.

“It is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom” (Matthew 19:23). It is also too hard for the foolishly wise to enter simplicity. A lapse often saves the clever man, bringing him salvation and innocence in spite of himself.

Fight to escape from your own cleverness. If you do, then you will find salvation and uprightness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Virtuous Woman

Many changes occurred in the Roman Breviary during the 1900’s starting at 1911. The feast of the Immaculate Conception used to be celebrated with an Octave. This permission first began with Pope Clement IX when he granted this favor to France, and later that permission was extended to the universal Church by Pope Innocent XII, although not privileged -- meaning that other feasts were also celebrated within those eight days. This lasted until changes were made in 1955. For that eight day period, in the early twentieth-century Roman Breviary, most of those days at the hour of Matins for the Second Nocturn contained extracts from “Ineffabilis Deus,” the Apostolic Constitution issued by Pope Pius IX in December of 1854 which declared that “in the first instance of her conception,” Mary “was preserved free from all stain of original sin.” In fact, also in that Apostolic Constitution, the Holy Father wrote: “Moreover, Our said Predecessors with great joy ordained that the Feast of the said Conception should be observed as of the same rank as that of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and appointed that it should be kept with an Octave throughout the whole Church.” Well, those days may be gone but some interesting reflections were contained in the Breviary during those eight days at the hour of Matins in the Third Nocturn. Today would have been Day Three within the Octave and what was in the Roman Breviary is this Homily from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

Rejoice, father Adam, and you even more mother Eve, you who are the source of all, and the ruin of all, and the unhappy cause of their ruin before you gave them birth. Be comforted both in your Daughter, and such a Daughter; but chiefly you, O woman, of whom the first evil came, and who has cast your slur upon all women. The time has come for the slur to be taken away, and for the man to have nothing to say against the woman. At first, when he unwisely began to make an excuse, he did not scruple to throw the blame upon her, saying: The woman whom You have given to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. Wherefore, O Eve, betake yourself to Mother Mary, betake yourself to your Daughter; let the Daughter answer for the mother; let her take away her mother's reproach; let her make up to her father for her mother's fault for if man is fallen by means of a woman, it is by means of Woman that he is raised up again.

What did you say, O Adam? The woman whom You have given to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. These are wrathful words, by which you would rather magnify than diminish your offence. Nevertheless, Wisdom has defeated your malice. God asked you that He might find in you an occasion of pardon, but, in that He did not find it, He has sought and found it in the Treasure of His own mercy. One woman answers for another; the wise for the foolish; the lowly for the proud; for her that gave to you from the tree of death, another that gives to you to taste from the tree of life; for her that brought you the bitter food of sin, another that gives you from the sweet fruits of righteousness. Wherefore accuse the woman no more, but speak in thanksgiving, and say: Lord, the Woman whom You have given to me, she has given to me from the tree of life, and I have eaten; and it is in my mouth sweeter than honey, for thereby You have quickened me. Behold, it was for this that the angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin, to the most admirable of women, a Woman more wonderful than all women, the restorer of those that went before, and the one that quickens those that come after her.

Is it not of this your Daughter, O Adam, that God spoke of when He said to the serpent: I will put enmity between you and the Woman? And if you will still doubt that He speaks of Mary, hear what follows: She shall bruise your head. Who won this conquest but Mary? She brought to nothing all the wiles of Satan, whether for the pollution of her body or the injury of her soul. Was it not of her that Solomon spoke of when he said: Who shall find a virtuous Woman? He had read that God had promised that the enemy, who had prevailed by means of a woman, was by a Woman to be overthrown, and he believed. But he wondered greatly, and said: Who shall find a virtuous Woman? That is to say: If our salvation, and the bringing back of that which is lost, and the final triumph over the enemy, is in the hands of a Woman, it must be that a virtuous Woman has been found, prepared to work in that matter.

The Immaculate Virgin's Example of Meekness

“Meek among mankind” is how our Blessed Lady is described in the praises of her evening Office. Everything that Mary is comes from God and reflects God as in a mirror. And like us, she is a creature which should make her example compelling to meditate upon and deeply immerse ourselves in. Meekness is the topic of this Carthusian monk's reflection and is most appropriate for the season of Advent as well as for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception which the Church celebrated yesterday.

Virgo singularis, inter omnes mitis (Virgin all excelling, meek among mankind)… It is thus that Mary is described in the hymn we say every day (Ave Maris Stella, Vespers of Our Lady), and it is concerning her meekness that I would meditate with you for a few moments.

The Gospel tells us that the meek shall inherit the earth; but it also reminds us that the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and that the violent shall bear it away (cf. Matthew 11:12). The paradox disappears when we realize that in this spiritual warfare we must be meek towards others, but violent in the unhesitating promptitude with which we answer the call of divine love. It is exactly the opposite of what the unspiritual man does. He is brutal towards others, but interiorly without any zeal for justice or passion for truth. The violence of the spiritual man is inseparable from his meekness, which is quickly lost if he does not know how to meet with a categorical refusal the lie which hides itself in all excuses or softness towards oneself. To dismiss all interior discussion with a Yes or No, that resoluteness which our Lord recommends to us, is the very first condition that must be fulfilled if the soul is to disentangle itself and be given the marvelous grace of meekness.

This virtue which distinguished our Blessed Lady among all women, cannot but be a most necessary virtue. Note first that Mary’s meekness is, as it were, a reflection of God’s. Mary is, indeed, a pure mirror, so free from all shadow of self, that the divine Essence finds its perfection fully reflected in her humility. That is why the Immaculate Virgin can be an object of contemplation, since her purity so mirrors that of God that we see Him, Who is Pure Act in her.

For meekness is a disposition truly divine. Violence proceeds from an authority conscious of its weakness. God has no need to break us in order to impose His will; His meekness is only another name for His all-powerfulness. Mary, on the other hand, is all-obedient, and it is in her total abandonment that she comes very close to God’s omnipotence. To abandon all pretensions to self-love without a struggle; to consent quietly to all that is asked of us: it is this that makes us resemble Mary, and allows us to partake of her graciousness and power. For God refuses us nothing – provided we abandon ourselves to Him with all our heart.

Meekness towards creatures is the result of patience and of respect for them. It has been said of meekness that it is the crown of the Christian virtues: indeed almost more than a virtue. It is, indeed, a unique grace, which penetrates one’s whole being, and influences one’s whole conduct; it even extends its influence to beings lower than man, to things inanimate. A meek person does even the simplest things in a different way from those who are not meek. Wisdom is meek; so too is understanding, since one must necessarily respect an object if one is to understand it. What is more, meekness implies sympathy; it wrests their secret from beings who would withdraw into themselves in face of impulsiveness as they would from violence. Meekness is both virginal and maternal; without it the approach to souls can never be deep or effective.

We have said that meekness is the fruit of patience and of respect – of patience above all. A soul will not be meek unless it is firmly resolved repeatedly to forgo its rights, and to suffer continuously, at times cruelly. On the other hand, it is true that meekness disarms our adversaries, and robs suffering of its venom. Our suffering, for the most part, comes from revolt, from a want of adaptability and abandonment.

It is true that we must do violence to ourselves if we would cease to be violent; but in a manner more general and profound, the respect and patience which, in imitation of Mary and even of God Himself, we must acquire in our relations with others, we have need of also towards ourselves. We need much patience with our own soul, to say nothing of the body. All the natural energy in the world will not enable us to change to any appreciable degree the character, unsatisfactory as it is in general, which our nature and upbringing have provided for us (cf. Matthew 6:27). But anyone who recognizes himself frankly for what he is, who by that fact alone is freed from the temptation to criticize others, and who in spite of his self-knowledge does not omit to renew his effort every day, keeping his eyes fixed on God, persevering for God’s sake alone and counting solely on His bounty – such a one, I say, does more than grow better; he leaves and abandons himself to God, to Whom such loving humility gives more glory than all success. Each one of us must respect his soul, remembering that it comes from God and belongs lovingly to Him; welcoming the action of the Holy Spirit in it, whatever form that action may take. The soul is so delicate that only God can handle it.

Let us, then, beg our Blessed Lady something of her meekness. It is she who shields us for God, and makes us chaste in the highest sense: that is to say, free from all resistance, awaiting the coming of our Spouse.

The Example of Saint John the Baptist

Saint Gregory, Pope and Doctor of the Church gave a homily at the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist during Advent. This particular part extracted from it is about John the Baptist. It kind of prods us to examine who we are and what we do to prepare the way for Jesus: Am I a voice that precedes the Word or am I a voice which proudly attempts to overpower the Word? Do I try to make crooked paths straight? If I use my gifts well, do I take credit for them or am I prepared to proclaim that there is “One mightier than I?” Do I really try to get out of the way of myself and let Christ increase in my life? These and other questions are intimated for self-examination of conscience.

John the Baptist, being asked who he was, replied saying: “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness,” who is called a “voice” by the prophet, because he preceded the Word. What the voice was to cry is made plain: “Prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths.” Everyone that preaches true faith and good works, what does he do but prepare the way of the Lord so that He may come into the hearts of hearers, and may make straight the path for God, forming right dispositions within them by the words of exhortations, so that this power of pardon may enter in there, and the light of truth shine there.

“Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low.” What is here meant by valleys unless the humble, and by the hills and mountains the proud? At the Coming of the Redeemer, therefore, the valleys shall be filled, the mountains and hills brought low, according to His Word: “Everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”

As water falls away from the mountain, so the words of truth forsake the mind of the proud. But springs well up in the vales because the minds of the humble accept the words of prophecy. We already behold, we already look upon the valleys abounding in corn, because the mouths of those who are mild and gentle and who seem to the world contemptible, are now filled with the food of truth.

Because they had seen that he was endowed with rare holiness, the people began to believe that John the Baptist was that high and solid mountain of which it had been written: “And it came to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord, shall be prepared in the top of the mountains.” For they began to think that he was the Christ, as the Gospel relates. But unless that same John was a valley in himself, he would not have been filled with the Holy Spirit; who, that he might show who he truly was, said: “There comes One mightier than I, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.”

“He must increase but I must decrease.” Here we must ask in what manner Christ increased, and in what manner John decreased. In the minds of the people Christ increased, because He came to be acknowledged for that which He was; and John was decreased because he ceased to be thought that which he was not. John did not change, but remained steadfast in holiness, because he remained humble in his heart, while many in like circumstances have fallen away because in their vanity they had become blown up through some vain notion.

“The crooked ways shall be made straight and the rough ways plain.” Crooked ways become straight when the hearts of sinners, twisted by evil, conform to the way of righteousness. And rough ways are changed to smooth when cruel and wrathful men turn to the mildness of clemency, through the infusion of heavenly grace.

“And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Since all flesh means every man, and in this life every man cannot see the salvation God, which is Christ, where then does the prophet in this sentence turn his prophetic vision unless towards the day of the last judgment? Then, with opened eyes, in the presence of the adoring angels, and of the apostles seated there, Christ will appear upon His Throne of Majesty, and all, the elect and the reprobate, shall behold Him; the elect that they may without end enjoy the possession of their reward, the reprobate to grieve forever in the torment of retribution.

Chosen from the Boundless Crowd of Humanity

These wonderful thoughts about our Blessed Lady come from a monk, ascetic and writer of the Carthusian Order named, Ioannes Iustus Lanspergius. This is the Latinized name of John Gerecht of Landsberg. His name, however, most often appears simply as “Lanspergius.” He lived in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. He was born in Bavaria, Germany. He joined the Carthusian Order at twenty years of age after studying philosophy at the University of Cologne. After spending ten years in Cologne he was made Prior of the Charterhouse of Cantave. Along with his duties as Prior, he gave himself completely to God in prayer, asceticism, mysticism and writing. In this post, Lanspergius plunges deeper into Sacred Scripture, most specifically the scene of the Annunciation. We can see the mind of a contemplative at work in how this is written.

The good and gracious Creator became intolerant in seeing man fall into the abyss. Overcome by inexpressible mercy, He sent an angel, chosen among the most worthy, the archangel Gabriel – to a town in Galilee called Nazareth.

The angel came into the house which was inhabited by the parents of the future Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin, who had now returned from the temple, and was betrothed to Saint Joseph.

The angel then appeared to the Virgin. And what a Virgin! A Virgin in body and having the pure soul of an angel; a Virgin whose beauty is so bright, that the King of heaven, the Son of the Most High, would have her for His Mother, choosing her from the boundless crowd of humanity.

The angel came to greet the Virgin and bring a message from God – an unheard of message – no words of this kind had ever been brought to the earth until that day.

It is written that the angel came to her. But where did He enter? Mary had withdrawn to her father’s residence, sitting in her small bedroom, totally absorbed in entreating God to free humanity. She was immersed in divine contemplation and was completely suspended in God as her spirit remained closely united to Him constantly, due to the extraordinary purity of her heart. For as often as she wished, she could move towards the Almighty through contemplation.

And so, there she sat, earnestly beseeching the Lord to send into the land the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. The angel enters into the room where Mary is devoted only to God, by herself, absorbed. Gabriel turns with the utmost respect towards her who is about to become the Mother of God, and greets her: Hail, full of grace.

Hail, full of grace. You are free from every stain, even the slightest shadow. You’re so perfectly beautiful and Immaculate that nothing in you has ever displeased God.

Grace has invaded you and you possess it completely. The Lord is with you, in you the Trinity dwells, and not in an ordinary manner, but in a special way. The Lord is pleased with you, He created you and enjoys dwelling in you always, enamored by your beauty. He has completely enveloped you, protecting you from the invasion of the enemy. The Lord is always with you, He strengthens you, surrounds you with His grace which will never abandon you.

Almighty God has prepared in you a worthy and adequate dwelling for His Son, Who wished to be born in your lap.

Blessed are you among women, among all creatures. The sweetness of God you have received with so many blessings that the Omnipotent Creator decreed to be your Son. The Immense One desired to be born like a child, thanks to you.

Blessed are you among women, you who enjoy the honor of virginity and are the Mother of the Almighty.

Unique among all women you have conceived without the stain of sin and without suffering. This conception made you even more pure and more holy.

You have favor with God. I know that your bewilderment and your fear are not from defects, but are the fragrant flowers of your virtues. With certainty you have found favor with God, appreciated and likened unto Him beyond measure.

Your eminent virtues, your continuous prayer, and the fire of your love has asked for and obtained His grace.

Blessed are you, Mary, for you have received not the grace of men, but of God.