Homily – Third Sunday of Advent Year C

We now move into the third week of Advent. This Sunday’s gospel is a continuation of last week on John the Baptist’s ministry. We find many are showing an openness to his call for repentance by asking to be baptised. We miss the section in our readings where John warned them of the consequences of leaving repentance too late, such frankness prompted a quick response.

Baptism then is different to how we experience baptism today. Today, we celebrate baptisms for both adults and infants.  The choice is made voluntarily by the candidate or by someone else acting on their behalf. For adults, a decision is made after a time of serious consideration. The moment of baptism for these candidates as we can imagine, is a moving experience. Tears of joy are often shed as it marks a significant milestone in their faith journey.

For infants, parents choose to have their child to be part of the church. The joy is clearly seen by parents more so than their child. It is not unusual for a child to cry tears of annoyance as they are rudely awakened by the touch of water on their head.

Baptism is understood as how we can be more Christ-like. The question is how do we imitate Christ? Certainly, there are role models who we can look to, the obvious ones are those who have an existing relationship, particularly those in a parental role including godparents and grandparents.

Imitation of Christ also comes from knowledge of the Scripture. Those who write for us are those who have experienced God in a personal way that only they can express. This week, there is a tone across all our readings from the well-known Paul and Luke to the “unnamed” author collectively known as the psalmist, to the lesser-known prophet Zephaniah.

Advent and Christmas are certainly a time of joy. But for those who are experiencing a difficult time, joy is far from their mind. Perhaps joy is discovered after several seasons not when we are expected to conform to a calendar. Think of the people who are closely connected to Notre Dame. Their joy was realised after years of waiting and tireless restoration work. It was years before joy returned to the walls and halls of the iconic building.

By Fr Hoang Dinh

Published: 13 December 2024