Pray without ceasing to Jesus who is the One who has come, who is coming and who will come again.

John 1; 6-8,19-28. Third Sunday in Advent. December 17th, 2017

Already we have come to the third week in Advent, how quickly time flies; and our quickly the advent of our life flies… “soon it will be night and we will be questioned about our love!”

If you remember, the theme for the First week in Advent was, Be Watchful! Be Alert! Watch for the Lord; don’t fall into slumber! That is, don’t’ fall into the temptations of the, “lust of the flesh”, “the lust of the eyes” and “pride of life.” In other words, don’t be so focused and fascinated on the passing things of this world, so as to be blinded and unprepared and miss His coming.

The Second Week of Advent was Prepare the Way for the Lord, for He will come quickly as Divine Judge, so now is the time to draw closer to Him as Merciful Redeemer-for God promises us mercy not tomorrow, examine your life and your conscience in order to see those things which you have done or fail to do which are displeasing to the Lord, namely your sins and make a good Sacramental confession to prepare for His coming.

And the theme for this Third week in Advent is, “Pray without ceasing.” Pray without ceasing to Jesus who is the One who has come, who is coming and who will come again. Pray always so has to grow in our intimacy and friendship with Jesus, so as to desire Him above all things and become one with Him in love.

This third week of Advent is also known as Gaudete Sunday, or “Rejoice Sunday!” St. Paul tells us to Rejoice in the Lord Always! Saint Catherine of Siena said that all the way to Heaven is already Heaven for those who love the Lord. To keep Advent is to peek into Heaven especially on “Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday,”

The Rose Color Vestments, Rose being a symbol of Joy, remind us of why we Christians rejoice, why we should always be joyful. And the reason is, is that the Lord is near to us. Yes, He came as a man two thousand years ago and we long for Him to come again at the end of time, but through the Sacraments of the Holy Church He has found a way to be with us still, to remain with us always as Emmanuel—God is truly with us, not just in our mind, not just in our hearts, and not just spiritually, but He is with us substantially, physically, in the same body born of the Virgin Mary in the crib at Bethlehem.

For this reason, Advent as we have said is a time of hope; it is a time of rejoicing and happiness. Yes, we are preparing for the coming of Jesus liturgically at Christmas, but our hope lies in the fact that He comes at this Holy Mass and every Holy Mass in the Holy Eucharist and pours out a new His Unfathomable Love and Infinite Mercy for us on the Altar. Every Mass is therefore Christ Mass—Don’t miss is coming here!

From this center, which is the Heart of Christ offered for us and to us, all grace and mercy flows out to all of the other Sacraments. If we receive the Sacraments with the proper disposition, they will strengthen our Closeness to Jesus, and lead us more and more into a perfect union of love with Him, and through Him to the Father. But we for our part must prepare ourselves and try to offer ourselves in love totally to the One, Jesus who in the Sacraments, especially in the Holy Eucharist, offers Himself and His love totally to us.

The Truth is, is that Joy and Happiness come from being close to Jesus, and it is the Sacraments that make this closeness possible. Sadness on the other hand is to be away from Jesus and so away from His Sacraments. Jesus does not wish us harm or sorrow, but only His peace and Joy—the sorrow in this world comes from us, not God; it comes from thinking we are self-sufficient apart from God, from thinking we can love and serve our neighbor without first worshiping and adoring God; it comes from doing our own self-will instead of God’s Holy Will; in a word, all the sorrow and unhappiness in this world comes from sin.

In this season of advent, and in the advent of our lives, we may be more or less comfortable or more or less fill with suffering and difficulties, but Jesus promises a joy that no one and nothing can take from us, that is, as long as we cling to Jesus with faith in and through the Sacraments of the Church, especially the Most Blessed of Sacraments the Holy Eucharist. There we will find the antidote to Sadness. There will find the strength to become better, to overcome our self-centeredness, which only leads to despondency and despair. There we will find the strength to break out of seeking only our self-interest in order to Love and serve God above else and to love and serve our neighbor for Love of God.

Through the power of the Sacraments we will then be enable, empowered to live our daily life only for Jesus, all of our daily duties will be done for Him primarily, we will do all things well for Him, we will become like Him. And as other Christs for the world, we will serve others and even bear their burdens. This is how we will pray constantly and rejoice always for all we do, no matter how small will be done for love of Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and through Jesus. Then others will be attracted to the joy they see within us and they will trace the source of our Joy back to Jesus. And they too will discover the definition of Joy…J.O.Y. ---to put Jesus first, then Others and then finally Ourselves.

At this and every Holy Mass, Jesus comes anew to give us peace, to give us Joy, by giving us Himself in the Holy Eucharist, let us rejoice and lovingly and joyfully and through the Virgin Mary, offer ourselves to Him in return.