December 11, 2011
Homily: Thirdy Sunday of Advent: "Guadete" Sunday
Most Rev. James D. Conley, S.T.L., Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, delivered the following homily for the Third Sunday of Advent at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado.
Because Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, the day in the Church we call “Gaudete Sunday” – Rejoice in the Lord!
Estad siempre alegres en El Señor os lo repito, estad alegres. El Señor está cerca!
This is taken from our entrance Antiphon from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4, verses 4 and 5.
Estad siempre alegres en El Señor os lo repito, estad alegres. El Señor está cerca!
Why? Because the Lord is near! The nativity of the Lord, Christmas is two weeks from today! El Señor está cerca! But the Lord is near, the Lord is close to us even now!
He is in our hearts by virtue of our baptism! He is in the Holy Eucharist and he will come down upon this altar in just a few moments at the consecration and we will receive him into our bodies at Holy Communion.
He is near to us in the words of Sacred Scripture which we have just heard.
He is near to us when we gather together as a family, for Jesus said, when two or more are gathered in my name, I am there with you!
So, we know that Jesus is very close to us, very near to us and we call him Emmanuel, a word which means “God is with us.”
So today is a day of rejoicing, “Gaudete Sunday. “ El Señor está cerca!
The Lord is also very close to us in His Blessed Mother, Mary Most Holy, and tomorrow, December 12th, we celebrate her feast day under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe – Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
It is perfect that we celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe in the season of Advent!
There are 3 major figures, 3 principal characters in Advent - Isaiah, John, and Mary.
Isaiah the prophet whom we just heard from in our first reading. Isaiah is the prophet of Advent and we hear his voice almost every day in the liturgy during Advent. Today we hear him say, “The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God.”
The second main character of Advent is St. John the Baptist who again tells us today, “I am the voice of the one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord.”
And the third main character of Advent is Mary, our Blessed Mother.
In Advent Mary comes to us as a pregnant mother, she comes to us with Jesus in her womb. She asks us to walk with her to Bethlehem and to be with her, to be at her side with St. Joseph as she gives birth to our Savior, the Messiah.
We also know that Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego at Tepeyac as a pregnant mother. She wears the belt around her waist to tell us she is with child. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the only Marian apparition where she is pregnant.
So Advent is a perfect time to honor Mary as the pregnant Mother of Jesus.
Mary teaches us three things. The first thing she teaches us is the preciousness of life in the womb. As Catholics, we are pro-life, we pray and work to end abortion, and we believe life is a gift from God.
The second lesson we learn from Mary during Advent is that we must give birth to Jesus in our own lives. We must give birth to Jesus by inviting others to the Catholic Faith. Millions were converted in Mexico through Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Finally, Mary teaches us the importance of prayer. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows her with hands folded. We must all be people of prayer.
And so we honor Mary during Advent. We ask her to lead us to Jesus, to lead us to a deeper pro-life conviction, to help us lead others to Jesus, and to lead us to deeper prayer.
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