Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, 2020
I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
The Church uses this marvelous passage from the prophet Isaiah for many things. It is found in the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Liturgy of the Hours, it is the entrance antiphon for the solemnity of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, and here we find it in the first lesson from the Old Testament for the Third Sunday of Advent. It looks forward to the lovely bridal images used in the book of Revelation. So we have heard it, or sung it, or recited it several times in the past week
The lovely figure of the Mother of God, spotless in her conception, has been presented to us on the feast of that amazing grace she was given; then we were reminded of her clothed in heavenly splendor of the feast of St. Juan Diego and the feast of her apparition at Guadalupe; and then on the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, newly restored to the general calendar by Pope Francis. And now on this Sunday, called Gaudete after its entrance antiphon, which bids us to rejoice in the Lord always, we hear it again.
How often does our good mother the Church place a text before us so many times in one week and into the next?
Surely there is a message here meant for each of us individually. The liturgy of the Church is not just some general announcement for a universal community—it is food and light and warmth for single souls too. When a message is given over and over, it is meant to draw our attention and move our hearts to its deep and effective meaning.
This meaning has been given to us by Our Lady herself. Since we are right on the next day of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, when she revealed herself in a “robe of salvation and a mantle of justice,” we could do no better than to hear her words on that occasion. These words will allow us to “rejoice heartily in the Lord, in the God who is the joy of our souls,” hers and ours.
Here is what she tells Juan Diego:
Know and understand well, you the most humble of my sons that I am the ever virgin Holy Mary, mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth. I wish that a temple be erected here quickly, so I may therein exhibit and give all my love, compassion, help, and protection, because I am your merciful mother, to you, and to all the inhabitants on this land and all the rest who love me, invoke and confide in me; listen there to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows.
Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within the fold of my garment? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.
Here are precisely the teachings of St. Paul in the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass. He tells us not to worry about anything but simply to present our petitions to God in prayer. This is the source of true joy: confidence in the consolation that will surely be ours, even in the midst of great difficulties, even those of our own making, if we turn to him and to his Blessed Mother with the assurance that they have our good at heart. Paul tells us that “all things work together for the good of those who love God.” All things means just what it says, just as Our Lady of Guadalupe tells us: “Do not grieve or be disturbed by anything.” (Anything also means just what it says.)
Now, the source of our worry or grief or fear may be very close. It may be the effects of our own failings, or the reactions of others to these failings, which are beyond our control and so increase our fears. But we are also being reminded that we are surrounded by love, the love of the Mother of God, to be sure; but if we pay attention we may find that she has sent us other witnesses to her love. Those around us may or may not understand us. They may even be angry or frustrated at our limitations, but often enough, they also love us. Let us return her love and their love by trusting in it, and not increasing our woes and theirs by dramatizing our fears.
“Perfect love casts out fear,” the disciple whom Jesus loved tells us. When we are anxious and fearful of others, let us seek to love them, pray for their happiness and healing, and be willing to make amends for our defects. After all, the faults that make us fear about ourselves and our relationships also make those around us fear as well. We are only too conscious of the emotional pain of our fears; should this awareness not also make us compassionate toward those whom we may have troubled or frightened?
Our Lady had no faults, but this only makes her compassion for us who do (which is all her children) all the greater. She does not regard us with disapproval or disdain or disgust. She wonders at our weakness, but she only wants to strengthen us and reassure us. Read over her consoling words quoted here again, and then wrap yourself and those you love and fear with her bright robe of justice and salvation, and get ready for better days in the company of the Bride and Bridegroom as Christmas draws us to them.