Joyful in hope despite problems

IN a class on homiletics, the professor emphasized the importance of making the facial expression harmonize with the homily. “When you speak of Heaven,“ he said, “let your face light up with a heavenly gleam; let your eyes shine with glory. But when you speak of Hell ­ your ordinary face will do.“

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Gaudete, which means “rejoice,“ “be joyful,“ is the message of this 3rd Sunday of Advent. That’s why the liturgical color is pink.

With the birth of Christ the Messiah, the Sunday tells us to be “joyful in hope“ because the Messiah has already redeemed us and now we should do our part in saving ourselves.

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During the time of John the Baptist, people did not know Who or where the Messiah was. People kept looking for Him to come in the guise of some kind of Elijah or their imagining.

The people kept missing who the Messiah was when in fact he was right in their midst, prompting the Baptist to exclaim, “There is one among you whom you do not know“ (Jn 1,26).

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In one of my pilgrimages to the Holy Land, our group visited the tomb of King David highly revered by the Jews. In the course of the tour, I asked the lady tour guide, “What about Jesus Christ?

How do you regard Him?“ The lady looked sharply at me, her face stiffening and blurted, “Jesus Christ was an impostor, an ordinary person; he doesn’t mean anything to us.“ I was taken aback and much embarrassed before the group. I hurriedly left the shrine ­ afraid another one would be buried in the tomb!
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How about our modern times? Would we miss the Lord and worse, reject him like His countrymen did? Many of us will say, “Of course, we love and follow Jesus.“ Is that really true?

Then why is it in our celebration of Christmas, for instance, we are so much engrossed with Christmas shopping, gift-giving, eating and drinking that we forget the reason why we’re doing all this?

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An elderly lady passing in front of a big mall and seeing the beautiful “belen“ (crib) amidst the lights and Christmas trees outside, said: “Good Lord, they are putting back Christ to Christmas!“ Advent and Christmas are opportunities for us to renew our faith in Jesus. Don’t take your problems TOO seriously. Jesus came to save us.

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SPIRITUAL PREPARATION. A soldier and his wife were preparing for the First Communion of their son when the chaplain arrived for the ceremony. Taking the father aside, the priest asked, “Are you prepared for this solemn event?” “I guess so, Father,” replied the soldier. “I’ve got a lechon, pickles, cake, cookies…”

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“No, no!” interrupted the chaplain. “I mean are you spiritually prepared?” “Well, I don’t know,” said the soldier thoughtfully. “But would two bottles of whiskey, two cases of beer be enough?“ That’s another kind of “spiritual.“ Ask yourself: Am I prepared SPIRITUALLY for Christmas? That is, am I in the state of sin? Unforgiving? Selfish? Then, avail of the sacrament of Confession.

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INDIGENT SICK. There are many indigent patients, like Dante Cabansag who has renal failure, we are supporting. While medical consultations are free, they don’t have money to buy expensive medicines. How about reaching out in this season of Christmas?

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Send any amount payable to Indigents c/o Fr. Bel San Luis, SVD. For inquiries, call Grace at tel: 723-3343 or e-mail: belsvd@yahoo.com.

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4. Third Sunday of Advent: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’
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