My friends, as I said in the bulletin, this Sunday is called, “Gaudete” in the Latin, and it means, “rejoice.” And as said in previous homilies, Advent in its entirety is about joy – and a joy that continues to build throughout this wonderful season of expectant waiting. 

   I would call our attention to our sister/mother, Mary and her spouse, Joseph, and of how, as any set of expectant parents await a coming birth – there is the beginning joy of learning that a pregnancy has occurred, and with each passing week/month as the woman’s body begins to change, as the baby develops, and eventually moves for the first time – there is joy that continues to grow until the baby comes, usually screaming into this world, hungry for nourishment and comfort in many ways.  This my friends is what we celebrate during Advent – life and love in many ways. 

   There are books available that question the whole story of God and a human mother uniting to give birth to our brother Jesus, making him effectively Divine and Human at the same time.  As a Franciscan sister once said to me, “There were no video cameras available then, so we simply don’t know if what we have been told and believed for so long is actually true.” Into this enters “faith,” that ability/gift we might say, to believe what we can’t prove.  And being that we can’t prove this astonishing claim, I choose to believe the Christmas story pretty much intact – that our loving God, for no other reason than, over-the-top love and concern for us, entered into human existence, choosing to-be-one-of-and with-us, and to show us how to become our best selves. 

   Now, whether our sister Mary needed to be proclaimed as a “virgin,” probably a fact, for some, that is a bit incredulous, because after all, when a woman gives birth, she is no longer “a virgin,” and it really adds nothing to the beautiful story of Jesus becoming “one-with-us” to know that Mary was somehow, “a virgin” throughout the process.

   Unfortunately, what it does say is that the hierarchy of our beloved Church had and continues to have trouble with sexuality in expression.  That somehow, our God would find anything wrong in uniting with humanity to create Jesus in the manner that each of us were created, and continue to do so, makes the whole beautiful story of co-creation less than it can be.  And for that reason, these same powers-that-be, “need to clean up” this otherwise most beautiful and precious story, by sanitizing Mary in feasts such as the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and having her for all time remain, “a virgin,” untouched  by sex.  One does have to ask, if the way that our loving God chose to have us co-create and enjoy the physical comfort of another, was so bad, why would this same God, who in other places we name as, All Wonderful, Perfect-beyond-measure, have chosen such an “imperfect” method?

   In my mind, my friends, the method, in its very best sense is nothing short of beautiful, wonderful, and life-giving except for “small minds” that can’t image a totally self-giving, Creator God. 

   Isaiah, in today’s 1^st reading tells us, “Look, your God is coming” – “joy and gladness will” [be with you].  The psalmist in 146 says, [this One is coming] “with divine justice”[!]

   My friends, part of what Advent calls us to, is, “going deeper,”  and James in today’s 2^nd reading calls for “patience.” The “looking” that the prophet Isaiah asks for today, assumes that “patience” will be necessary.  We humans are capable of so much, yet we often choose the easiest, safest way out.

   Through the generous gift of friends, Robert and I travelled to St. Paul this past week, and we able to attend the Ordway’s opening night presentation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s production of Jesus Christ, Superstar.  Through fantastic and energetic action, this rock musical portrayed Jesus becoming one-with-us, “trying so much, for 3 years, seems like 30,” to quote lyrics, to help us humans see that we are loved, just as we are.  The disillusionment that we humans feel at times, when we aren’t understood or appreciated for the ways that we have tried, was, in my mind, portrayed so well by the Jesus character, Jack Hopewell, in the play, and really a highlight for me. 

   In Matthew’s gospel today, Jesus, in uplifting the life of John the Baptist, expounds on how much each of us is loved by our God in saying that, even though history will record no one greater than John, the least born in this world is, in fact, greater than John!

   Simply put friends, each of us humans is equal in God’s sight; loved, appreciated, worthy, and wanted! We, in our humanity, might find this hard to wrap our heads around.  It is one of those things that must be laid on our hearts. 

   This is what touched me so in Jesus Christ, Superstar, in Jesus’ song of lament – reflecting his “weeping over Jerusalem – there was so much he wanted to give them, and seemingly, in the end, they didn’t get it, or couldn’t grasp it at that moment. 

   For this reason, we have such a model and friend in our brother Jesus, because if he, as one of us experienced disillusionment, depression, and chaos in his life, we as his followers should expect the same. 

   But, along with the realization that life can bring sadness and discouragement, it can also bring much joy and hope, if we can be patient and sincerely, “look” for it.  Advent teaches us all this. 

   Guarding the ending of this new version of  Jesus Christ, Superstar, for any of you who may be going to see it, let me just say, there is always “hope” for each of us, no matter what life may have been, or will be, and this was portrayed most beautifully in a twist on the “resurrection” of Jesus.

   So, my friends, in the concluding half of Advent, I invite you to stay close to the crib for all that it can teach us … Amen? Amen!

      My friends, as I said in last week’s homily, “I love the Season of Advent!” And here is just one of the reasons why: It is a season of hope and that hope is displayed so appropriately in churches like ours, that remember the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, with the royal blue color for vestments and liturgical drapes.  And we should do this because Advent is not a “little Lent,” wherein we “beat our breasts”, moaning, “mea culpa, mea culpa,” and for those who have forgotten their Latin, “through my fault, through my fault,” but a season for “building joy,” day by day, as we remember once again the coming of our extravagant God into human existence in the person of our brother, Jesus, and as someone recently said of him, “our Way-shower,” for living our best lives.

   All of this Sunday’s Scripture readings speak of “justice” in general, and explain in more obvious ways exactly how we are to bring this “justice” about. 

   Recalling Isaiah’s reading from last week, we were asked to consider, “making war no more,” a seemingly near impossible task, it seems, as we look at our present world and see wars raging across the planet. 

   This week, Isaiah calls us to consider another set of seemingly impossible happenings: wolves and lambs, calves and young lions, cows and bears, all lying peacefully together, and often, our first reaction to hearing of this idyllic image is to say, “Yes, how wonderful that would be!” We might want to ask though, “why does Isaiah do this? – giving us unrealistic pictures of seemingly impossible things.”

   I believe what Isaiah is prophesying about is his belief, inspired by the Spirit, that we humans are capable of so much, more, good than we usually show.  He is basically telling us that we must “envision” what we hope for, in order to make it happen.

   This reminds me of when, in the past, I misplaced things, and I kept looking, but just couldn’t find them.  Robert usually tells me in these cases, “Kathy you have to believe it is there!” When I approach it this way—believing, I often find what I am looking for in the same place I was looking previously, to no avail.  And for us all, friends, we have to believe too that the “goodness” we hope for, in our world, our nation, our city, and our families, can actually come about—and very likely, it will need to come through us!  And when I say, “us,” I mean, all of us, each doing our part—together!

   Isaiah goes on to say that we won’t need to do this alone, another bit of hope: “A shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse, and the Spirit of God will rest there.”  Isaiah goes on to describe how this “shoot,” that we know to be our brother Jesus, will act – he will bring “wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength, knowledge and reverence for God.”  Additionally, “justice will prevail” for the suffering and the lowly. 

   Earlier I stated through another’s words that Jesus is our, “Way-shower” and the challenge seems to be, for each of us, to keep our eyes on him, doing as he did.  If we don’t try as much as possible to do as Jesus did, then the good work that he began, may simply end.  We must remember that Jesus’ coming was all about, “showing us the way,” and if we follow his lead, all will come to fruition in giving the justice to all that they deserve. 

   And again, it is for this reason that the prophets of the Second Vatican Council, in their Spirit-led wisdom encouraged the Church to update, moving away from an institution bent on guilting people for their human condition, and become rather, a joy-filled community of people striving to become their best selves, even when we fail at times, but always believing, and encouraging others to believe, that we are capable of so much more! Becoming stuck in a theology of guilt and allowing one individual to basically, “take the rap” for all of us, simply does nothing to help us become the people in our world that Jesus expects us to be.

   Paul, in his letter to the Romans says as much – all that is in the Scriptures was written down to give you, “hope and encouragement.”  And when did we need, hope and encouragement more? 

   Advent calls us my friends to great hope in all that we can be, in following our brother, Jesus, not to “remembering his dying for us, but more so, his living for us. I have said this many times, but it bears repeating; if we believe that Jesus’ coming among us was simply,  “to die, in reparation for our sins,” then we do our awesome God such a disservice – One who loved us beyond measure in sending us Jesus, for no other purpose but to “show us the way.”  Beginning to “pre-guilt” ourselves in Advent, symbolized by the liturgical color, purple, which you will see used in most Catholic churches during Advent, is in my mind, not a reflection of our God’s great love for each of us. 

   Today’s gospel from Matthew tells John the Baptist’s story, who’s coming was also foretold by the prophet, Isaiah, “A herald’s voice cries, prepare the way for our God.” Advent my friends, is a time “to prepare” our hearts, minds, our whole beings to once again say, “yes” as our sister, Mary did to God’s call that she give our world, a wonderful son.  This truly is what tomorrow’s Marian feast, “The Immaculate Conception should be about – Mary’s “yes!” If our God cared enough to enter into our existence, to become, “One-with-us,” then that same God had no trouble being born from a “less-than-perfect” human – love gets beyond all that!  Perhaps we could rename this feast, “Mary’s Yes!”  We will sing of her “yes” in the recessional today. 

   And as Mary did, we each have the possibility of “giving birth” in a spiritual way to Jesus in our world, “making straight his paths,” as John advocated – “giving some evidence” as he said, that we intend to truly follow in Jesus’ footsteps.   Amen? Amen!