Our joy is found in the ways we help and are helped by one another.

In ten words, St. Paul expresses the message of Gaudete Sunday on the third Sunday of Advent:  “Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks.” 

Our prayer is to express the joy and the gratitude that is in our hearts as we prepare for the birth of the Savior.  “Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks.”

The way Pope Francis expresses the Advent joy is with one of his favorite expressions:  “Evangelizers must never look like they have just come back from a funeral.”  In this Advent season, we prepare with much hope and joy in our hearts.   

This past Wednesday Evening the Knights of Columbus gathered at Joey’s Pasta House for our annual Christmas party.  A great time was had by all.  Gaudete.  Rejoice.  Indeed there was a very joyful spirit enjoyed by all.  Now you may remember on Wednesday Evening we were hammered with a good amount of snow.  Everyone was cancelled but this Christmas party.  On the way home, yours truly got stuck in the parking lot under a pile of snow.  This had the potential of being a very unjoyful ending to a great Christmas gathering,   The front wheels of my car were spinning and going nowhere.  Thanks to Vince Cammarata and Bruce McDermott and others, my car was towed out of the snow bank.  Thanks be to God.  My point is even in a situation of being trapped in a snow bank, my joy was increased by the effort and generosity of Vince and Bruce.  May we rejoice and give thanks in the ways we help and are helped by one another.

This week John the Baptist is our Advent guide.  In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist was attracting crowds;  he was changing lives and touching hearts.  The people from Jerusalem asked John:  “Who are you?” John knew clearly his identity.  He knew who he was and who he was not.  John responded:  “I am not the Christ.  I am not Elijah…I am the voice of one crying out in the desert….I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worth to untie.”

The Pharisees wanted to know who John was, but John wanted them to know who Jesus was.  Emphasizing that he was not the Messiah, John identified himself as the herald of Christ.

We also ask the question to Jesus that was asked of John:  Who are you?  We wish to be able to recognize the presence of Christ in our midst. 

We ponder this question as we reflect on today’s Scripture readings.  In the first Scripture reading, Isaiah exulted in telling his beleaguered contemporaries that their rescue and restoration was at hand, not because they had merited these blessings but because God is faithful.  Paul assures the anxious Thessalonians that they can relax and celebrate their blessings without worrying about the unknown future.  Why?  Because God can be trusted.  Likewise, in today’s Gospel, John’s announcement of Jesus’ coming into the world should be met with great  joy because in Jesus, God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness have become flesh and blood, and God has chosen to speak to us with human heart filled with love for us.

Mindful of the words of the Baptist that we can fail to recognize the holy one who is in our midst, we seek to root our trust in a God who is always faithful.

What expectations help you to recognize Christ’s presence?  What expectations blind you to recognizing Christ?  Expectations can blind us.  We might be so intent on something that we miss the gem right before us.

John was filled with a faith-filled vision in recognizing Christ.  John lived his life deflecting attention away from himself so that the focus of faith and hope might be fully and directly on Jesus.  I am not the one; there is, however, one among you whom you do not know.  John had plenty of time to focus on Jesus because nothing else mattered to John.

May we in this Advent season exercise a John-like role directing attention away from ourselves and witnessing to the Christ who is in our midst.  May we find joy, Gaudete, in helping others recognize the presence of Christ in our midst.  It is my prayer that my preaching can help others know Jesus in their lives.  Yours is an even more important witness.  You are to preach without words.  How?  By pulling someone out of a snow bank or by a simple smile that communicates friendship, we witness to the mystery of Christmas --  our God is present to us in human flesh – in your human flesh and in mine.

The mission given to us at our Baptism is the same mission that was given to John.   We are to witness to the presence of God in our midst.  John preached a baptism of repentance; may we preach by the example of our lives a baptism of healing and forgiveness and love.   When we listen with patience and with much love to another, we are affirming that God-given dignity.  We are affirming that indeed the Spirit of God dwells in those we reach out to.

 In so doing, we rejoice.  We rejoice even in the midst of the violence that surrounds racial conflict and the threat of terrorism that we live with.  We rejoice because it is God’s call and command to us.  How could we not.

When the question is asked of us that was asked of John in the Gospel:  “Who are you?”   May we witness to the reality that the Spirit of God is upon us.   When we as the faith community of St. Joseph’s are asked:  “Who are you?”  May we respond with the words of St. Paul that describe our way of life:  “Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks.”