3rd Sunday Advent Year C

3rd Sunday in Advent – Be Happy In The Lord – The 7 ‘Ps’

Are you ready? Have a think about this for a moment or two and see how long you spend thinking before you come up with your own question, “What does he mean, am I ready? Ready for what? Ready in what way?

And this is my point. What have we been preparing for over these past few weeks of Advent as we have been running around: the holiday of Christmas with all of its trimmings, the food, the presents, the parties, the visits, the friends and the family and more, much more beside?

Or the Feast of Christmas, the remembrance of the birth of our Saviour, of His being born into human form to come and save me, and all of us, from our sins. The questions to Our Lady about whether she would take on this challenge of becoming the mother of our Saviour and her humility in saying, Yes, she would do as God had asked of her. She is our exemplar of service and of rejoicing.

If it is the former, then we may have reached a point, maybe not, where we can now say that we are there, we are ready, we have achieved all that we wanted, all that we had decided was necessary to make things just right! We are set to go and the job is done. And feel a little relieved and thankful in its completion. And then? Well, and then what? Do we now sit back and wait for the next few days to unfold and bring what they bring, to see if they make us happy because and through all of our running about? Or . . .

Or, are we still in this thinking, soul-searching-process of making ourselves ready for the birth of Christ? Are we still trying to get ready? Have we thought about what this means and how we can then do it? Well, I think that the answer for this second part is with St Paul in today’s reading. He tells us, “. . . to be happy, always happy in the Lord.”

Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord. To celebrate what we know to be true, that Christ is coming to save each and every one of us, through His birth, His life, his suffering and death and His resurrection. Rejoice and be glad for our saviour’s birth is upon us!

Be happy in the Lord and show this happiness in how you deal with each other. Let your tolerance be evident or to say this a different way, show respect and regard, care and concern for all those you meet. Show this by your words and by your actions. See those Christians, see how they love one another. See how they show this love through their everyday actions and interactions.

Smile, and the world smiles with you. Smile, and show your happiness in and of the Lord. Be happy! Rejoice in the Lord! And if you have worries and concerns, then pray to the Lord with humility, with thanks and with graciousness. And what you will receive is the fulfilment of all your prayers and, “the peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.”

Be happy, and try to show what we know to be true: that I am saved! That I know why Jesus came down to earth. That I know that I can offer everything I think, I say and that I do, to the Lord in prayer in joyful thanks and that I can show this knowledge, this thanks in how I walk and in how I talk and in how I behave. With Joy! With rejoicing! With Happiness! And yes, with a smile on my face that I want everyone to see, and to feel, and to be captivated by and to be infected by! We can smile at people we meet at any time and in any place.

Smile at your neighbours and friends and smile at your family, and when they ask why, then tell them that Christmas is coming, that Jesus will be born later this month and that you are at peace with God. That His peace is in and all around you and that you feel good; you feel whole; that you feel relaxed and ready for Christmas Day.

We need to prioritise our time and our attention. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to the Lord, what is His. So, yes, spend the time getting ready with all of the logistics that are necessary to allow and enable a household to celebrate as a family, but, but - -

But, – make sure there you have allocated time in every day to talk to the Lord and to listen to and for His reply. He speaks in the whisper of the breeze and you will need to be silent and calm to hear Him when He does.

And when He does respond, then rejoice in this response. Be happy in the Lord. Jubilate! Rejoice and be glad.

Proper Prioritised Preparation Prevents Pretty Poor Performance