Father Jim Sabak, OFM, invites us into the hope of the Advent season and helps us to meditate upon and contemplate this past Sunday’s readings as we carry the Word with us into our weeks. In the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, may we prepare a place within ourselves for God to dwell.
From Father Jim: “Our readings have been pointing to this direction of great joy the entire time that we’ve been walking through Advent these past two weeks. But our readings today especially emphasize joy. ‘Shout with joy, daughter Zion. Rise up in joy, daughter Zion.’ Because your enemies are destroyed. You are now free to live without fear. Again, God has protected you. God has brought you back. That first reading from Isaiah, nothing but positivity, nothing but God doing great things for us. A God who wants to do this without having us beg for them, without having us to do penance for them. Again, God sees our plight, the ups and downs of our life, and God answers it with joy. God answers it with telling us things are going to be better. You have nothing to fear, you have nothing to doubt. Live your life. Live your life with an abundance. Live your life with everything that you have inside of you expressing this great joy of being a part of the life of God.”
First Reading (Zep 3:14-18a) for the Third Sunday of Advent:
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has removed the judgment against you
he has turned away your enemies;
the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,
you have no further misfortune to fear.
On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
he will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.
Second Reading (Phil 4:4-7) for the Third Sunday of Advent:
Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Reading (Lk 3:10-18) for the Third Sunday of Advent:
The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”
Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.
