My friends; we are at the mid-way point in our Advent journey, actually more than mid-way as Advent, due to this year’s Church calendar, will be shortened—it all depends on where the first Sunday of Advent falls.   But this Sunday in the Advent cycle is always special—we know it as “Gaudete” which is Latin for “rejoice.”

So, it is good at this point to look back and see some history.  After the Second Vatican Council, with all of our liturgy being updated so that it made more liturgical sense, the traditional color of Advent was changed from purple to blue in order that we would change our thinking of Advent as a time of penitence to a time of quiet waiting.  The color blue is in deference to Mary, our mother and sister, a true woman of strength and patient waiting.  The tone then was intended to help us prepare, yes, but less in a penitential way and more in a way of quiet, yet joy-filled waiting.

Advent calls each of us to patient waiting as well, to being people of strength, willing to walk in our brother Jesus’ footsteps when it is easy and when it is not so easy, as his earthly mother did.

Sometimes we get set in our ways and are unwilling to change as some of the Catholic churches that still use purple and pink candles on their Advent wreaths, protesting that, “We like it the way that it was, without being open to a new way of thinking.  The old way may seem more comfortable, but this isn’t about being “comfortable” but about being “meaningful.” The beauty of the Catholic church’s liturgy has always been in its rituals, its signs and symbols pointing to a greater truth—a richer idea than what is at face value.

Vatican II taught that the season of advent should not be looked at as a time of penance and sadness, indicated by the liturgical color, purple, as we use for Lent, but one of joy and patient waiting indicated by the liturgical color, blue.  The white candle used on the Advent wreath is the color for “joy”—one could use the color pink or rose  as I have done with my stole and the drapes in our liturgical space—as rose is also a color for joy.

The liturgical colors and Scriptural readings are meant to align and when they do, what the prophets are trying to convey to us have a much better chance of doing just that! All the readings for today are about joy, about seeing our God as one of love, not someone that we should fear.

The prophet Zephaniah, in the first reading proclaims that we should, “Shout for joy, that we “should sing joyfully because God is in our midst.”  And not only this, but that, “God rejoices over us with gladness, renews us in love, and sings joyfully about us!” Both the psalm which is from the words of the prophet, Isaiah and Paul’s letter to the Philippians are about joy as well.   So, if we were to use the traditional color purple, which indicates a time of penance, it just wouldn’t fit!

Some churches still use the color purple for their Advent waiting and I can only guess it’s because they are still objecting to the changes of Vatican II or they just don’t understand the purpose behind the signs and symbols that are so beautiful within the Catholic church and give us the tone to strive after with each liturgical season.

For those who were at Mass last week or may have read my homily for the 2^nd Sunday of Advent, you know that I spoke about the seeming, “wrongness” of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception because it does not convey who Mary was—a strong woman, willing to speak truth to power as she does in her Magnificat, but is instead a diversion in that understanding.  We would do better as a Church to rename the feast, “Mary of the Magnificat” to truly uplift who she was. In her joyous testament of faith, she proclaims the God of her heart who was not only her Friend, but who became her Lover, her Child, one who would bring justice to the land, tear tyrants from their thrones, and lift up the lowly. So, if we were ever looking for a mystery—there it is!  That is the reason we are singing the “Canticle of the Turning” in today’s liturgy as it is a modern version, post Vatican II that indeed raises up all these traits which are more the truth about who Mary was. This sung canticle is a marching song for proclaiming the good that God has done and continually does through us.

That is also why a Church hierarchy comprised of only men is all wrong.  These men don’t speak for women, nor do they know what to do when confronted with a strong woman. They tend to want to put them on pedestals and when these women persist in asking, “why,” as God wants all of us to do when confronting the Scriptures; and injustices in life, the hierarchy burns them at the stake or excommunicates them! How would our Church be if all the God-given gifts were uplifted?  Just as using the wrong liturgical color is a diversion from the truth trying to be conveyed in the liturgy; not seeing the true place of women in our Church and world, called by God to be part of the wonderful mystery of God-with-us, is a diversion too; and it fails to help us see our God as God truly is—inclusive, all about love, wanting the same from us.

The beautiful and joy-filled readings for today conclude with John’s example in the gospel of Luke about how we are to be as Jesus’ followers.  John says that, “He is not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals.” So, we too, must come to know as John did, who we are meant to be and who we are not meant to be.  As spiritual beings here, having a human experience; we are not to be about becoming as “well-to-do” as possible, but to see to it that all our sisters and brothers are simply, “well”–that everyone’s needs are being met—that we are treating others as we want to be treated.

So, my friends; let us complete our Advent time clearly focused on Jesus, seeing our God as one who “rejoices in us” not one to fear, but one to love as we have been loved, each one of us.  Amen? Amen!

Friends, here we are at the 2^nd week of our Advent journey.  “Journey” is a good way to think about these four weeks of preparation for this most wonderful season of Christmas.  We are on a journey of preparation that will prepare us, if we are conscious of this opportunity, in the most profound ways we can imagine.

Each Advent for the last ten years; I have spoken to you about not rushing the season—lingering a bit in the days of Advent to check not only our lists of gifts, cards, special foods, etc., but of ourselves as “spiritual beings, here, having a human experience,” as someone once said.

I often speak to you during Advent about “carving out” some moments in each day to nurture your relationship with Jesus, our brother who was willing in the great plan of God to immerse himself in humanity for no other reason than to show the over-the-top love of our God for each of us.  We don’t want to lose sight of this one key idea.  We also don’t want to get lost, lost in the busyness of this time of year, when this season is so much about being found—found by our God who loves and cares for us beyond anything that we can imagine!

And my friends, for this very reason, the feast of yesterday, the Immaculate Conception is really a contradiction to the great love of our God who chose to become part of our humanity. Because you see, to say that his mother was conceived without sin is to say that she was not human as the very definition of humanity is that we are not perfect and the best part, is that our God loves us anyway! So, if the only way that Jesus could be part of us, and our humanity was that his mother needed to be perfect, or not human, than where did the human component in Jesus come from? Clearly, the theologians and clerics need to clean up their act on this one. And if they can do that, then some of the negative thinking around sexuality might be able to be done away with as well. The beauty of the Incarnation is the realization that God loved us from the get-go and chose to be immersed in our humanity that is not an “original sin,” but an original blessing!

I was visiting with a woman this past week that I am a mentor for on her journey to becoming a Cojourner with the Rochester Franciscan Sisters. We were talking about her notion that, “God is love.”  I suggested to her that a way to “see” her God more was to be conscious of the fact that when she experiences good in this world in any way, she is seeing the face of God.  Our God infuses all of creation, animate and inanimate objects with the God-head—God’s fingerprint is on all of it!  So if we are looking for God; we must realize that God is all around us, ever present, ever-wanting to be a part of our lives. I think of the joy of a little boy, our grandson, Elliot, who turned 5 yesterday and amid the goodness of his family gathering with him for a party at the bowling alley, our God was there!

Advent calls us to this and more—not just that our loving God is in all that is good, but in all that is not-so-good.  That becomes the harder part for most of us—that in parts of this world—in people specifically, where good does not seem to be present because we humans have camouflaged the image of God—God yet remains. In other words, we are called to love that which on face value seems, unlovable.

Paul tells the Philippians today and us vicariously, “my prayer is that your love may more and more abound, both in understanding and discernment.”  The prophet, Baruch, confirmed by the prophet, John, tells us, “Make ready the way of God, clear a straight path—that every valley will be filled and every mountain will be leveled.”  Nothing is impossible for God! The prophet Baruch continues, “For God is leading Israel (and us) in joy by the light of divine glory, escorted by mercy and justice.”

Always, my friends, we must remember the importance of keeping our eyes on Jesus, because he will truly show us the way to navigate in a world that can sometimes seem, loveless.  We are saddened when we do not see people in power, in Church or State, acting as the true leaders that we need them to be.

It is equally sad when our so-called leaders act more out of their heads, than their hearts.  Advent and ultimately, Christmas is about getting this one idea right—it is love, always love that opens hearts and changes minds, not lofty rhetoric devoid of caring actions.

Jesus, our brother, on this spiritual journey came not as royalty, but as a poor baby of poor parents—parents who would become refugees in order to save their baby from violence and death.  We can’t miss the blatant connection between Mary, Joseph and Jesus and our present day refugees.  Our God is part of all creation and to reject and not care for any one member of that creation is to reject and not care for Jesus.

As we continue our Advent journey, let us take some time each day, if only a few minutes, to focus on keeping our hearts open to seeing Jesus in our world in perhaps new and different ways—Amen? Amen!