17 December 2023 – 3rd Sunday of Advent | Bambinelli Sunday

by Fr Francis Anthony

We had an entrance hymn but the entrance antiphon for today’s service begins with:

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.

We are rejoicing just not ‘it is Christmas season‘. We are rejoicing on that infinite love of God for each one of us. In the Old Testament, the people rejoiced when they looked back on how God delivered them from the slavery in Egypt. Later, just before the arrival of Christ, they rejoiced because God in His goodness had freed them from captivity, both from Syria and from Babylonia. They rejoiced. God’s blessing was with them.

And today, we rejoice, we go further. We are not recalling the deliverance from Egypt or the deliverance from captivities. We are rejoicing – God has come to save us. He has saved us through His death. We rejoice to know that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. We rejoice that that Son died for each one of us. Yes, it happened more than 2000 years ago and we are the beneficiaries.

And Prophet Isaiah in today’s First Reading says that he has been called, he has been anointed. And for what? That rejoicing God has given me, for what? So that I would be able to proclaim God’s goodness to others. Yes. And that is repeated again, the text appears in Prophet Isaiah and it is repeated in Saint Luke’s Gospel:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

These days, many people having great devotion to the Holy Spirit. But let us not just say: Lord, come to us. But with that strength, let us go out of our way to bring joy to others by bringing the Good News of peace, of joy, of harmony. Bringing the Good News that we are the children of God. Yes, that is where it comes to a completion.

And Saint Paul says it in a different way. He just simply says:

Pray always.

When he says that, it is not ‘You go on your knees, say your Rosary, say your catena, whatever’. No. Be united with that God who has saved you and let that joy be in you and you bring that joy to others. To pray always. It is that I will be able to recognise the closeness of God, not just periodically on certain days or times of the day, but always. Am I a disciple?

And John in today’s Gospel recognises the people came to ask him: Who you are? He just simply said: ‘I am not.‘ at least three times in today’s text. In a similar way, we are also just witnesses. We don’t take over and become mini Christ around the area. It is ‘I am not’ but I am sent by God. That gives me the authentication.

Let us ask God and this is in today’s Gospel where John says he is not but he has come to bear witness to the Light. Yes, it is very beautiful. If you enter the church at night, the whole front is all lighted up with those Christmas trees. You enter here, you will see all these places are lighted up. Let this be a sign for each one of us.

Am I a LIGHT, am I a JOY, am I a PEACE to those among whom I am living?

Let Christmas not be just a personal affair or a family affair. Let it be a church affair that we, the members, the children of God will bring God to others. We will take over what the angels sang on Christmas night:

Joy to the world. Peace to man of goodwill.

Let us ask God as we are preparing for the coming of the Lord to give us the strength, like Saint John in today’s Gospel, to bear witness to the Light.

Click below to listen to the homily and watch the video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 17 December 2023