On this Gaudete Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, I would like to focus with you on the Gospel, St. John the Baptist, and Jesus’ question – “what did you come to look at?”
St. John the Baptist is the greatest among all prophets, and is the messenger, who prepares the way before the Messiah. As we had heard in the Gospel, St. John is in prison, enclosed in a cell, knowing perhaps, that his life is nearing its end. This is the same John the Baptist who leapt with joy in his mother’s womb, when Our Lady visited St. Elizabeth. That was at the beginning of his life – and now St. John is at the end of his earthly days, in a jail cell. There are many things that you could do from a prison cell…asking your followers to eliminate, to take out, your opponent, your enemy, your rival, is one of those things. No such thought crosses the mind of St. John. St. John’s heart is so full of zeal and love for Jesus the Lamb of God, that even from prison, John directs his disciples to go, and ask Jesus directly – are you the one who is to come? St. John is so intent, so focused on seeking out the truth, that he puts his personal popularity, his personal comfort last, and through his disciples, asks Jesus a simple question – are you the Messiah? As we have in our mind the image of St. John in prison, let us remember those men and women, wrongly condemned, who populate prison cells, also in today’s world – among them Christians and men of the Church.
Jesus answers John’s question by listing the prophetic signs that He is accomplishing: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news brought to them. This last part is especially close to the heart any Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate, because the motto of our religious congregation, our mission statement says “Evangelizare pauperibus misit me” or “He has sent me to bring the Good News to the poor”; the second half of our mission statement is “Pauperes evangelizantur” or “the poor have the good news brought to them” – which forms part of Jesus’ answer to John’s question in today’s Gospel. In short, Jesus says to John, yes, I am the Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed.
As St. John’s disciples go away, Jesus turns to the crowds, and, so to speak, puts the ball back in their court. He asks the crowds, what did you go out to look at - what did you come to see? What is it, or who is it, that you’re looking for? This is a question that we, the crowds of the 21st century, should also consider.
My brothers and sisters, what do we come to see, when we come to church, also this church? This is a parish over 100 years old, with many traditions, with different and varied groups, a church that has both significant problems and great potential. In the midst of these, do we expect to see Christ, the God-Man, who will speak to us through the sacraments, through the liturgy, through the Word of God, through preaching, through brothers and sisters in the faith? These are building blocks of faith. Here it is also helpful to remember our traditions, commandments, precepts of the Church, liturgical laws, devotion to our Lady, and the Saints. These building blocks should lead us slowly but surely, to a personal encounter with Christ. It was in such a personal encounter with Christ, that St. John the Baptist, sitting in a dark prison cell, found joy. He found joy as he was seeking the truth about Jesus Christ. Speaking of the encounter of truth and joy, St. Pope Paul VI wrote, “Raising up man in the setting of a universe that is the work of His power, wisdom and love, and even before manifesting Himself personally according to the mode of revelation, God disposes the mind and heart of His creature to meet joy, at the same time as truth. One should therefore be attentive to the appeal that rises from man's heart, from the age of wondering childhood to serene old age, as a presentiment of the divine mystery”(Gaudete in Domino, I, 1975). We have both “wondering childhood” and “serene old age” present in this parish. The appeals, those things that “we come to see, that we are looking for” that rise from our hearts, if we take the time to listen to them, and if they are virtuous, can help us on the road to have a personal encounter with the Lord.
The entrance antiphon for the Mass on this Gaudete Sundaycries out, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed the Lord is near”. In seeking truth, we are able to find joy, as we are attentive to the movements of our hearts. We patiently wait for the coming of Jesus Christ at the end of time, and at Christmas.
(Fr. Pawel Ratajczak, OMI, Dec. 15, 2019)