Third Sunday of Advent – December 12, 2010
(Epistle: Philippians 4: 4-7)
(Gospel: John 1: 19-28)
St. Paul tells us in today’s Epistle reading to rejoice in the Lord. There is nothing more just than to rejoice in our Lord. Be not solicitous, which means be not anxious or impatient, because the Lord is near, near to His Church and near to our souls. How can anyone be near so burning a Fire and still be cold in their hearts? Let us meet the Christ Child on Christmas morning with our prayers, petitions and with thanksgiving, as St. Paul recommends to us today.
A few weeks ago we spoke about the end of time and the Second Coming of Christ. In those days false prophets will tell us that Christ is in the desert, and in various other places, but they will not tell you where He really is – in the Church, that Church which maintains the lines of succession from the Apostles and has kept and teaches the True Faith which they gave to us. Christ resides in that Church and that Church is the city of our strength. It is Christ that makes it strong and has led it through the ages against the Caesars and other persecuting emperors, against ungrateful princes who stole from the poor, against heretics who have over time denied every article of His Faith, against the so-called reformers who tried to create a Christianity in which His Church had no part, against the modern philosophers who have set the Church down as just one more system that has been tried and failed and now lies in ruins, and against the followers of Mohammed who try to spread their false faith through terror. All of these have passed away or will pass away, but His Word will not pass away. (Mark 13:31)
Thank the Christ Child this Christmas for the true Faith that has withstood all attacks. Even as the VaticanII church teaches its many heresies, we can take joy as St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, did in the Fourth Century when the Arian heresy controlled almost all Catholic churches. Athanasius told his flock to take heart “for they have the churches but we have the faith.” That is the state of the Church again today as the Modernist heretics have control of almost all Catholic churches. But take heart for if they have the churches, we have the Faith.
In today’s Gospel reading, priests and Levites came from Jerusalem to see John the Baptist. This is an indication of the high esteem in which they held John. On other occasions they sent emissaries to question Jesus, because He was the Son of a lowly carpenter. But John was one of their own, a member of the priestly cast and whose father, Zacharias, who was a prince among the priests of the Old Testament. St. John knew their doctrines and their hypocrisies in twisting the Law of Moses to suit their own financial welfare. They asked John if he was the Christ. John told them, “I am not the Christ.” The Jews, like we, expect the return of Elias, so they asked John if we was Elias. John clearly said, “I am not.” They then asked him, “Who are thou . . .” John answered, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.” (Isaias 40: 3) John fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias when he said this.
There is an seeming contradiction in Scriptures about who John the Baptist was. He said clearly that he is not Elias, but Jesus said in Matthew 17: 10-13: “And his disciples asked him, saying, why then do the scribes say that Elias must come first? But he answering, said to them: Elias indeed shall come and restore all things. But I say to you, that Elias has already come, and they knew him not . . . Then the disciples understood, that he had spoken to them of John the Baptist.” Also at Matthew 11: 14, Jesus says, “And if you will receive it, [John] is Elias who is to come.” How can it be that John says he is not Elias while the Son of God says he is?
It is not a contradiction, of course. Look in Luke 1: 17. The Angel, the messenger of God, tells Zachary, “And he [John the Baptist] shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias,” so that John came not as Elias in person, but in the spirit and power of Elias. The spirit and power of Elias is the Holy Ghost Who was in both Elias and John, because what Elias will be to the Second Coming of the Lord, John was to His first coming, “to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people,” and “to make straight the way of the Lord.”
St. Augustine asks who will believe this? And he answers: those who imitate the humility of John and who understand the great majesty of the Lord. John’s humility is shown in this passage. He could have said, “I am the Christ,” and the priests and Levites were ready to believe him. But he humbled himself before God and said, “I am not the Christ.” We can imitate John’s humility by abandoning our personal opinions about what is truth. We can acknowledge to ourselves that our opinions and the opinions of false religious teachers are irrelevant. We can acknowledge that what is important is what Christ’s Church teaches. We can acknowledge that we are not our own little church, we are not our own little philosophical empire but, rather, we are either members of or invited to become members of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church. We, along with our opinions, shall pass away, but His Word, which is found in His Church, shall not pass away. (Matthew 24: 35)
In a passage following last week’s Gospel reading Christ says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.” (Matthew 11: 12) How can someone commit violence against Heaven? The violence that our Lord is talking about is the violence against ourselves. Fast and abstinence is a violence against ourselves. Jesus is telling us to do what John the Baptist did in order to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. Pope St. Leo the Great says that fasting is the food of virtue, because from abstinence comes chaste thoughts, honorable decisions and helpful advice. By voluntarily suffering through fasting the sting of the flesh is lessened, that is, we think less of our bodies while our souls become strong in virtue
This coming week is Ember Week, a time of fasting and abstinence. When you fast you are denying yourself a pleasure and you will feel uncomfortable. That is called mortification of the body. When you offer that uncomfortable feeling to God you will be rewarded with the grace of God that will bring you closer to Him. It will help you stand fast against the devil and will defeat the sinful vices which lead you away from Heaven.
For those aged 18 to 59, inclusive, Ember Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are days of fast (one full meal, two smaller meals, liquids only between meals) and, for all aged 7 or over, partial abstinence from meat (meat, meat gravy, or meat soup at the main meal only) on Ember Wednesday and Saturday; total abstinence from meat on Ember Friday, as on all Fridays of the year.
Make the Ember Days even more meaningful by depriving yourself of little luxuries like desert and by praying for Catholic priests, who are in great need of your fasting and prayers.
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We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass:
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