From Our Pastor
On this Third Sunday of Advent, the liturgy invites us to experience JOY. In the first part of today’s Gospel, we meet three groups of people who turn to John the Baptist to obtain concrete life guidelines: the common people, the tax collectors, and the soldiers. Everyone has a recurring question: “What should we do?” which indicates their total willingness to accept God’s will. They have realized that they went off the path, and now they are determined to change their lives and, therefore, seek the prophet’s guidance.
Let’s imagine that one of us, eager to prepare well for Christmas, asks this same question to those we consider “experts” in the field of religion, perhaps catechists, or a religious person, or one of the priests. What would they tell us?
The most common advice is: to help a brother who is in difficulty or visit a sick person or pray the rosary every day, or say some prayers or go to confession. Of course, these are good tips. But John the Baptist did not choose this path. Perhaps because the Jewish community was already doing them so scrupulously. Therefore, his answer required something very specific in the way of loving a brother or sister.
To the common people he says: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.” Prayers and devotions are important as long as they are not used as devices to escape the demand to share goods with those in need.
We gladly gather to pray and sing, but when we are asked to make ourselves available to our brothers and sisters and share the goods we possess with them, our religious enthusiasm suddenly fades. John the Baptist is actually not that strict when he says: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none,” but Jesus will demand even more of his disciples: “And if anyone would…take your coat, let him have your cloak as well.”
When asked: “What should we do?” How am I preparing for Christmas so the Christ Child is born in my heart? In my preparation for Christmas, where we celebrate and meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation, is it enough to recite a few prayers, or could I go a step further and involve others, especially those who are excluded, marginalized, or belittled?
Fr. Lalo Jara, OFM
Pastor, Mission San Luis Rey Parish
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