Make Your Hearts Firm

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent
Gaudete Sunday
15 December 2013

        There’s a story about the papacy of Blessed Pope John XXIII that goes as follows:

          A man comes to the Vatican claiming to be Jesus. Nobody knows what to think of this, and calls are being made throughout all the curial offices in Rome, trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, a call gets through to Blessed John, with the message, “Your Holiness, there’s a man here claiming to be Jesus. What should we do?” And in only the way Pope John could say it, he responded, “Look busy!”

          My brothers and sisters: We’re more-or-less half-way through our Advent journey. If Jesus was to come before us today, would He find us simply looking busy, or would He find us waiting patiently for His return?

          In our Second Reading today, James reminds us that we need to wait patiently for the return of the Lord. We seem to lack that anticipation that He could return on any day, at any hour. We seem always to be afraid of that time when the Lord will appear, mostly because we’re not going to be found patiently waiting for Him, but looking and keeping busy so that we can be found seemingly “worthy” of His arrival.

          This Advent season is to, in the words of Saint James, “make [our] hearts firm.” We must be honest with ourselves in asking whether or not we have truly taken the time to sit and truly prepare our hearts for the Lord’s coming. Have we allowed the busyness of the “holiday season” to sweep us away from spending time with the Lord? Have we let go of our firm heart by not seeking to become closer with Jesus Christ?

          When we allow everything else to become a priority in our lives, when we fail to make the time available to simply sit and be with the Lord, then we fail to understand the whole meaning of Advent. Our society has made this time of year too commercial: We have to buy the gifts, wrap the gifts, decorate the house, bake the cookies, send the cards, et cetera. These are the “things” of the season which should be secondary in our lives.

          If these things are first in our lives right now, we have our priorities mixed up. It truly doesn’t matter if all the gifts are bought and wrapped, if every inch of the house is decorated to perfection, if we get all the cookies baked, if we remember to send all the cards . . . None of this will matter if we’re not considering all of what we’re doing through our relationship with Jesus Christ, our encounter with Jesus Christ, and through the anticipation of the glorious Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

          My brothers and sisters, this Gaudete Sunday invites us to rejoice, for the coming of the Lord is near! But if we’re too busy in our lives, we’re not going to recognize His coming among us. As the season of Advent turns our attention from the anticipation of the glorious Second Coming of Christ to the celebration of His Incarnation, we must pay special attention to the way we “make [our] hearts firm” in preparing to meet Him through Word and Sacrament. 

We cannot rejoice if we’re merely keeping busy.

          We must wait for the Lord with patience and joy.

          We can only rejoice with the Lord if we truly know the Lord.

          Archbishop Fulton Sheen once commented that every person should spend at least one hour in prayer a day, and if we’re too busy for an hour, we should spend two hours in prayer. And he is dead on in his observation. We’re not going to be joyous in encountering our Lord if we don’t know who He is; and we’re not going to know who He is if we’re not spending time with Him.

          Looking and keeping busy do not help us in becoming better disciples of Christ. If we want to truly be joyful in this season of Advent, and even more so in the season of Christmas, then we are going to spend time in making our hearts firm, waiting patiently for the Lord, and joyfully welcoming Him when He returns.

          The encounter we have with Jesus Christ in this Eucharist today should not only cause us joy in the here and now, but ultimately prepare us for the eternal joy we hope to one day share in. Through Word and Sacrament today, we continue to make our hearts firm in knowing that our Lord continues to dwell with us through His Church. Yet, also through Word and Sacrament, we continue to wait with joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

          My friends, don’t simply look busy or keep busy. Rather, wait with joy for the coming of Lord. Make your hearts firm through prayer, the Word and reception of the Sacraments, most especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

          Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!

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Enjoy the journey . . .