Reflection on the Readings at Mass for The Third Sunday of Advent (Year A). The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray.
The Liturgy Comes to Make us New in Christ
As we continue our approach to experience the joy and newness that many felt at the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the readings for the Third Sunday of Advent draw us into the joy and newness we ought to feel for having been born again in Him. This third Sunday of Advent is also called Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete, meaning ‘joy’ in the Latin language); so this is Joy Sunday and the liturgical color is rose and we light what is called the Shepherd’s candle because it emphasizes the joy in finding the Christ Child and sharing or evangelizing this joy with others. publicly
To participate in this season of joy, the liturgists have selected for the First Reading at Mass today, Isaiah 35:1-6. These verses from Isaiah belong to a section that began back in 34:1 and ends in 35:10, which contains an oracle judgement against Edom, which had become a symbol of evil, and a salvation oracle, which depicts the fallen and deserted Edom of now having signs of rebirth and new life after the exodus, with the bloom of “abundant flowers” and the sounds of rejoicing “with joyful song.” Who has saved these people; who has given them a new life? Here in verse four, the oracle becomes very interesting for the Christian, because it says God will come in person to save His people. “Here is God,” the text reads, “He comes with vindication; with divine recompense, he comes to save you.” So, here was the prophet Isaiah prophesizing centuries before the Virgin gave birth, that Immanuel would truly come, and he even informs us by what miracles we would know Him; saying, “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the death be cleared; then the lame leap like a stag then the tongue of the mute will sing. Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy.”
The nature of a prophecy is the same nature of any promise; ‘I promise you I will’ is a statement uttered by many, perhaps millions on this planet throughout the day, and the response back often is, ‘. . . but when?’ ‘When you make good on that promise’. ‘When will that prophecy be fulfilled,’ said many Jews about the promised messiah, as well as many new converts to Christianity who had heard of these oracles and prophesies. The answer given them was, well . . . Christ has come in person to us; He continues to come to us as the Holy Eucharist, and He will come again . . . but when? Here, Saint James responds, writing, “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates. Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”
Everything Saint James wrote points to the liturgy of the Mass. There is reason why the Holy Mass does not begin with the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist. We must be patient to receive Him, because first we must be prepared to receive Him. In this way, the liturgy is an image of salvation history. Salvation did not come immediately after Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden; nor, did it come immediately after the Children of Israel cross the Red Sea. It did not come for centuries, but Christ did come when were prepared to receive Him, and the Scriptures record the names of some of those who had been blessed for having patiently awaited His coming, such as the Magi who traveled from afar to visit with the newborn King of the Universe, and Simeon and the prophetess Anna whose advent day was the circumcision of the young King.
Saint James points to the liturgy again in verse nine, writing, “Do not complain, brothers, about one another, that you may not be judged.” Do we not ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us before we are able to receive the Holy Eucharist? Have not many liturgical rites throughout the history of the Church asked us to exchange a kiss of peace or sign of peace with our brothers and sisters before we are able to receive the Holy Eucharist? For before there comes joy, according to Saint James, we must preserve through the same hardship and patience that the prophets and saints who had come before us.
Another prophet who preserved through hardship and patience was John the Waymaker, who must have rejoiced in prison upon Jesus’ reply to his question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another,” by speaking to him the words of one his forebearers, the prophet Isaiah. In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 11:2-11 we hear that Jesus sent John’s disciples back to him with the word, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
From the creation of the universe until today, God has been about the business of creating new things, within us and around us. New things always bring joy. Whether it is a new gift under a Christmas tree or the feeling of new love. This is what Christ Jesus brought; new sight to the blind, new legs for the lame, new skin for the leper, new hearing for the death, new life for the dead and poor. Moreover, the most beautiful thing about the liturgy of the Mass is that Christ Jesus not only brings us new things, but He Himself is that new thing. He is the new wine and the new bread that becomes the source of our new life through His body and blood. What type of God is this who comes with the gift of a new thing every day; who restores our life every day, who comes and comes and comes again and again and again. Not only does our Lord promises that those who take no offense of Him bringing this new life are blessed, but He blesses those who take joy in His life.
After preserving through your hardship and patience, He who you are about to receive when you come to the end of the communion line has come to give you a new thing and do a new thing within you, so that old you may die and have a new life in Him.
This is just one way how the readings at Mass this Sunday connect to the liturgy and how the liturgy is forming us how to live our lives in the world. Be in the world what you have received through the liturgy.
