YEAR B: HOMILY FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (17TH DEC., 2023)

YEAR B: HOMILY FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

YEAR B: HOMILY FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

THEME: THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD – THE SPIRIT OF JOY!

BY: Fr. Benedict Agbo

* Is 61 : 1 – 11, 1 Thess 5 : 16 – 24, Jn 1 : 6 – 28.

A. PREAMBLE
Ours seem to be a society bereft of the Spirit of Christ yet claiming to be a Christian society. Everywhere you go, people seem to make a lot of noise with the name of Christ yet we don’t seem to feel the sign of the real presence of Christ in their lives. We want to begin this homily by asking the question : What is the true mark of the Spirit of Christ? How do we know when His Spirit is actually dwelling in a soul? In the midst of a society full of so called ‘men of God’, how do we know which ones are real /fake?

B. THE MARK OF A TRUE CHRISTIAN
‘The sweet mark of a Christian’ according to Vima Dasan, ‘is not faith, not even love, but joy’. We actually have about 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit ; 1. Love 2. Joy 3. Peace 4. Patience 5. Kindness 6. Goodness 7. Trustfulness 8. Gentleness and 9. Self control, according to Gal 5 : 22 but the real mark /emblem of a Christian is the ‘joy of the Lord’. I can never forget that beautiful song we usually sang in those days in the Junior Seminary : ‘Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there… So let it flow in the sky let the whole world know when the King is in residence there’. On this ‘Laetare Sunday’, as the Church breaks the sobriety/ solemnity of Advent season to remind us the importance of joy, permit me to present to you ‘The joy of the Lord’ as the true mark of the advent of the Messiah.

ALSO RECOMMENDED: HOMILY FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR B (DEC. 10TH, 2023)

The 1st reading of today begins with Prophet Isaiah’s joyful messianic announcement : ‘The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me’. The Spirit of the Lord can best be described as the spirit of freedom, epitomized in Christ :
(a) It brings a message of good news not message of doom – not a gospel that will divide kindred apart, activate fear among brothers and multiply the list of our enemies.
(b) It binds up hearts that are broken by consoling and not frightening them, Is 40 : 1 – 3. It is not a gospel that will bring guilt and remorse without hope of Divine love and forgiveness, Lam 3 : 20.
(c) It proclaims liberty to captives not a gospel that will enslave someone to any particular ‘man of God’ or ‘man of the Devil’, Jn 8 : 36.
(d) It brings freedom to those in prison by removing the prison /darkness of ignorance, Hos 4 : 6, removing bondage and servitude under elementary spirits of the universe, Col 1 : 12 – 13 since real deliverance comes from the knowledge of the truth, Jn 8 : 31.
(e) It proclaims a year of favour from the Lord. Spiritual blessings follow our worship of God, our offerings and life of righteousness, Prov 14 : 34. The Spirit of the Lord makes us happy at all times, praying constantly and for all things, giving thanks according to the 2nd reading of today.

C. THE MARK OF THE TRUE MAN OF GOD
The greatest mark of the true man of God is his humility. John the Baptist kept on saying in today’s gospel : ‘I am not the Christ… I am unworthy to untie his sandals’. True men of God should push people to Christ not to themselves. The gospel is not a commercial business where one struggles to maintain his /her customers but a vocation where the man of God tells people not what they want to hear but what they need to hear.

D. PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD
The appearance of John the Baptist in the wilderness in a prophet’s garb broke the 4 century silence of the prophets in Israel. He had the peculiar power and the singular privilege of preparing the way for the Lord by bringing people to the desert for sincere repentance.. Only the spirit of the Lord brings sincere repentance in men’s hearts. The fake one will give false promises of prosperity and negative messages about obstacles to our experience of material prosperity. This unfortunately, is the spirit operating in many large Christian gatherings today.

E. CONCLUSION
Happiness /Joy is like perfume. You can never pour it on others without some drops on yourself. The secret of true happiness/ Joy is selflessness. In marriage a man becomes happy by giving joy to his wife and vice versa. In the Priestly /Religious life a man /woman becomes happy by giving God himself/herself through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. Joy is a special commodity created by God that can never be exhausted as long as it is being distributed but finishes as soon as it is monopolized. You don’t but joy with money. You receive it by sincere devotion to the Holy Spirit, especially in moments of suffering and trials. Indeed, the joy of the Lord is our strength!

Happy Laetare Sunday dear friends!

 

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