|
Sacred Scriptures/Liturgy- Commentary on Sunday's Readings |
"REJOICE ALWAYS"
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap, Pontifical Household Preacher
Third Sunday of Advent 2006 (C)
www.zenit.org
Zephaniah 3:14-18; Philippians
4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18
The third Sunday of Advent is pervaded by the theme of joy. This
Sunday is traditionally called "Laetare" Sunday, that is, the Sunday
of "rejoicing," from the words of St. Paul in the second reading:
"Rejoice in the Lord always; I say again, rejoice."
In the first reading we hear the words of the prophet Zephaniah:
"Rejoice, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and
exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!" In the
responsorial psalm this extraordinary vocabulary of joy is enriched
with still other terms: "My strength and my courage is the Lord, and
he has been my salvation. With joy you will draw water at the
fountain of salvation. … Shout with exultation, O city of Zion."
Let us remain for a while with this word. (The Gospel passage
continues the message of John the Baptist that we commented on last
Sunday.) In the poem "Il sabato del villaggio" ("The village sabbath")
Giacomo Leopardi has expressed the idea that in the present life the
only authentic and possible joy is the joy of expectation, the joy
of the sabbath. It is a "day full of hope and joy," full of joy
precisely because it is full of hope. The expectation of the feast
is better than the feast itself.
The possession of the good that was longed for brings nothing but
disillusionment and boredom, because every finite good reveals
itself to be inferior to what was desired and is tiresome; only
expectation is the bearer of living joy. But this is precisely what
Christian joy is in this world: the joy of the sabbath, the prelude
to the Sunday without end, which is eternal life. St. Paul says that
Christians must be "joyful in hope" (Romans 12:12), which does not
mean that we must "hope to be happy" (after death), but that we must
be "joyful in hope," already happy now by the simple fact of hoping.
The Apostle does not limit himself only to the command to rejoice;
he also indicates how a community that wants to bear witness to joy
and make it credible to others must conduct itself. He says: "Your
affability should be known by all men."
The Greek word that we translate as "affability" signifies a whole
complex of attitudes that runs from clemency to the capacity to know
how to believe and to show oneself to be lovable, tolerant, and
hospitable. We could translate it with the word "kindness." It is
necessary that we first of all rediscover the human value of this
virtue. Kindness is a virtue which is at risk, or, more exactly, it
is a virtue that is extinct in the society in which we live.
Gratuitous violence in films and on television, language that is
intentionally vulgar, the competition to go beyond the limits in
regard to brutality and explicit sex is making us used to every
expression of ugliness and vulgarity.
Kindness is a balm in human relationships. Family life would be so
much better if there were more kindness in our gestures, in our
words, and above all, in the sentiments of our hearts. Nothing
extinguishes the joy of being together more than a certain vileness
in our behavior. "A kind answer," says Scripture, "calms wrath, but
a barbed one brings ire" (Proverbs 15:14). "A kind mouth multiplies
friends, and gracious lips prompt friendly greetings" (Sirach 6:5).
A kind person generates fond feelings and admiration wherever he
goes.
Alongside this human value we must also rediscover the Gospel value
of kindness. In the Bible the terms "meek" and "mild" do not have
the passive sense of "subjected," "repressed," but the active sense
of a person who acts with respect, courtesy, clemency toward others.
Kindness is indispensable above all for those who want to help
others find Christ. The Apostle Peter recommends to the first
Christians to be "ready to give a reason for their hope," but adds
immediately: "But this must be done with sweetness and respect" (1
Peter 3:15 ff), which is to say, with kindness.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
