Is. 61:1-2a,10-11/Ps. Lk. 1:46-50,53-54/1Thess. 5:16-24/Jn. 1:6-8,19-28

We celebrate the third Sunday of advent, a Sunday that has been traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday – ‘Rejoice, or joyful Sunday’. This Sunday, we focus and contemplate on the aspect of ‘Joy’ in Advent, after that of ‘Hope’ and ‘Peace’ in the earlier two Sundays of Advent.

 The Scripture readings today all allude to this, reminding us that the Lord has sent us His salvation through His Son so that we may rejoice once again. So, in the first reading, the people of Israel together exclaim; “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.” This is a song of joy and satisfaction of an empowered person, just as Isaiah recounts what God had done in his life.

Beloved, this, too, should be our share because we have been filled with the Spirit of God either at our baptism or confirmation. We are filled with the Holy Spirit like Isaiah to be strengthened in order to bring hope and happiness to the broken – hearted – those who are broken by sin. So, like the prophet we are also called to proclaim the good news of liberation for God’s people.

Today, our gospel revolves around the identity and mission of the “Prophet of Prophets,” John the Baptist. John the Baptist seems to have had great clarity about who he was. As a result, he did not claim to be someone he wasn’t.

Beloved, part of knowing who we are involves knowing who we are not and this is one of the ways of making straight the way of the Lord. People can sometimes be put under pressure to become someone they are not. They can yield to that pressure to please those they love and respect. We do this, by preoccupying ourselves with many physical Christmas preparations like getting new clothes, thinking of how to cook the best of meals, some of us are struggling to make ends meet perhaps wondering if our finances will meet the challenge of the extra expenses that Christmas invariably brings, etc.

John resisted that pressure because he knew who he was. He had come to understand that he was a voice who prepared people to meet the Messiah. He knew that God gave him his identity, not any human being. It was God who called him to be the voice who prepares the way for God’s Son.

Dear friends, God gives each of us a unique identity. Yet, the unique identity God gives to each of us has a common element. God calls each of us to become Christ-like; he calls us to grow up into his Son. This is also our calling – to make Christ known by allowing him to live in us. Christ lives in us when like in the words of the first reading, we bring good news to the poor, healing to the broken and freedom to the captives. These are some of the signs of a Christ-like person. Let us pray during these last days of Advent for the grace to be true to this our God-given identity.

Lastly, John the Baptist is referred to as a witness to speak for the light. His mission was to bear witness to Jesus, the light of the world. Witnesses point away from themselves towards something or someone. John saw his role as opening people’s eyes to the presence of this wonderful light shining in the darkness.

Like John, Isaiah speaks of himself as sent by God ‘to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken’. It is a good description of what it means for us to witness to the Lord’s light, to let his light shine through us. There is no darkness in our lives that needs to prevent us from opening ourselves up to the light of the Lord’s loving presence. Therefore, let us make way for his light to shine upon us.