THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Sunday, December 15, 2024

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

 

1. Called to Joy
4. Begin in a Small Way
6. 

 

Greeting (See Second Reading)

There is no need to worry,
for the Lord wants you to be happy,
and he is near to you.
May his peace and joy be with you always. R/ And also with you.

 

Introduction by the Celebrant

1. Called to Joy

On this Third Sunday of Advent the liturgy speaks to us, people who are too often so sad, of God as the Lord of the dance: the Lord is happy to come among us: he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival. It is a feast for the Lord to be with us. Is it a feast for us too? Let us open ourselves to the joy of the coming and lasting presence among us of the Lord himself. He comes to us with his peace, his love, and his forgiveness, not only on the great feast of Christmas but in every Eucharist and every day when we are willing to make God's love and peace grow in us and in our world. Lord, we are happy that you are here among us.

 

2. Begin in a Small Way

When the task to carry out what we ought to do certainly exceeds our potentials, what can we do about it? When the problem is too large for us to handle—like injustice and violence in the world, the lack of love, the disunity among people—what is there that we little people can do? We can begin by acting responsibly in our own little corner, with the people around us and by doing well what we have to do. This is John the Baptist’s advice to those who come to him for conversion. This is what they have to do to hasten the coming of the Savior. This is perhaps all we can do to bring Christ today in our world.

 

Penitential Act

The Lord’s joy becomes tangible for us
also when he can reconcile us with himself
in the pardon he offers us all the time.
                   (pause)
Lord Jesus, you are a God near to us
and so we dare to say:
Keep us in your love.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, with you near to us
we have no more evil to fear.
Keep us in your joy:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you ask us to be happy
and no longer to worry, for you are near.
Keep us in your peace.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

God among us,
heal us from the fears caused by sin
and bring us the joy of your forgiveness.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

 

Opening Prayer

1. Called to Joy

Let us pray that we may welcome with joy
Christ and his Good News
                   (pause)
God, source of all happiness,
your Son Jesus Christ brought to us and to all
glad tidings of your pardon and life.
Our hearts remain restless
until they find rest and peace in you.
Let your joy be our joy,
your love be our love,
your acceptance of us be our welcome
to all our brothers and sisters.
With Jesus in our midst,
may our communities be happy
and be a foretaste, even in trials,
of the lasting joy you have prepared for us.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

 

2. Begin in a Small Way

Let us pray for the courage
to do well what we have to do in life

                   (pause)

Our faithful God,
give us the courage to welcome your Son
by sharing what we have,
doing well what is right and just,
and spreading peace.
Let your Son Jesus baptize us
with the Holy Spirit and fire,
that he may renew us by his love
and let our hearts overflow with joy
because Jesus is alive among us.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

 

First Reading: Zephaniah 3:14-18a - The Lord Will Come in Your Midst

To a people surrounded by enemies the prophet announces: the Lord will forgive you and bring you joy. He will live among you and renew you by his love.

 

Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has removed the judgment against you
he has turned away your enemies;
the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,
you have no further misfortune to fear.
On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
he will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.

 

Responsorial Psalm: IS 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.

(6) Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

 

Second Reading: Philippians 4:4-7 - Rejoice, the Lord Is Near!

Christians should always be joyful people, says St. Paul. Their joy must be contagious, for the Lord is always near to them.

 

Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, 
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding 
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Alleluia: IS 61:1(Cited In Lk 4:18)

Alleluia, alleluia. 
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
because he has anointed me 
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: Luke 3:10-18 - Concrete Actions!

We wait and prepare for the coming of the Lord by doing well the everyday things that our calling demands, particularly with regards to others.

 

The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none. 
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them, 
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion, 
do not falsely accuse anyone, 
and be satisfied with your wages.”

Now the people were filled with expectation, 
and all were asking in their hearts 
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying, 
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn, 
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways, 
he preached good news to the people.

 

Intercessions

If there is too little joy among us, it is perhaps because we are not Christian enough. Let us pray to the God of joy that we may always live in his peace and joy, and let us say:

R/ Lord, you are all our joy.

–       For the Church, that it may always proclaim the gospel as good tidings of great joy, as a message of liberation and hope for all, let us pray:

R/ Lord, you are all our joy.

–       For today’s cold world of management and production, with its manipulation and injustice, that it may again pay attention to people and regain a sense of joy and celebration, let us pray:

R/ Lord, you are all our joy.

–       For the poor and those who suffer, that we may give them not only what they need but bring them the warmth of our love and the joy of hope, let us pray:

R/ Lord, you are all our joy.

–       For Christians everywhere, that we may learn to keep our serenity in the trials that are part of life and that we may see the relative value of things, let us pray:

R/ Lord, you are all our joy.

–       And for all of us, that we may have a sense of humor that can laugh at our own expense and a sense of gratuitousness that can do things for free and out of pure joy, let us pray:

R/ Lord, you are all our joy.

Lord our God, you have brought us freedom through Jesus your Son. May we live in your hands as free people and people of great joy. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, God of life and happiness,
your Son Jesus won the joy of his resurrection
through painful suffering and death.
With him we want to accept tensions and pain
without losing our inner peace,
to possess without attachment
and to love without complete fulfillment,
to cherish ourselves without deserting others,
to work for the future without reaping results
and to encounter Christ,
without knowing him fully.
Let this be our offering to you
that brings us your joy for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

 

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

The Lord Jesus is very near to us here in this Eucharist. Let us pray and offer with him that he may also be close to us in people and in the life of every day.

 

Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer

With the fullest trust and joy
let us pray to our Father in heaven
in the words of Jesus himself: R/ Our Father...

 

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us your peace in our day.
Keep us free from worrying about the future
and give us each day
a fresh provision of joy.
Help us to do well the task
you have assigned to us in life
and to spread happiness,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

 

Invitation to Communion

This is the Lord who said:
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You are sad now
but I shall see you again
and then your hearts will be full of joy.
No one shall take that joy away from you.
Happy are we to be invited
to the Lord’s meal of joy. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

 

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
you have refreshed our hope and joy
in this holy meal with your Son.
Help us to seek joy and happiness
not in personal contentment nor in things
but in people and in you,
in human kindness and in sharing,
and in doing all things well.
Make our every day new and worth living
through the presence among us
of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Blessing

We have our share of cares and worries
just like anyone else.
Yet, on account of our trust in God
and the quiet assurance
that the Lord is ever near to us,
we keep our serenity and joy.
Let your Christian joy be contagious,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Go in the hope and joy of the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.

 

Commentary 

Prayers and fasting are insufficient to prepare for the Christmas

On this third Sunday of Advent  the liturgy invites us to joy.  In the first part of today’s Gospel introduces three groups of people who go to the Baptist to have concrete directions for their lives:  Common people, the tax collectors, the soldiers. They all have one question that gets repeated:  “What should we do?” , indicating their complete willingness to accept the will of God.  They have realized that they went off the road, and now is determined to change their life and therefore,  seeks direction form the seer.

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 or the priest. What would they tell us?

Common advises are, to help a brother who is in difficulty or to visit a sick person or to recite the rosary every day; or do some prayers or to go to confession. Of course, these are good pieces of advice. But the Baptist did not choose this path. Perhaps because the Jewish community was already doing them so scrupulously. Therefore, he demands something very concrete in the way of loving a brother or a sister.

 To the ordinary people he says: “If you have two coats, give one to the person who has none; and if you have food, do the same” (vv. 10-11). Prayers and devotions are important provided they are not used as devices to escape the demand for sharing of goods with those in need.

We gladly gather to pray, to sing, but when we are asked to make ourselves available to the brothers and sisters and share with them the goods we possess … all our religious enthusiasm suddenly vanish. The Baptist is not so strict when he says: “If you have two coats give one to the person who has none.” But, Jesus will demand even more from his disciples: “When someone takes your coat, give him your shirt as well” (Lk 6:29).

Tax collectors approaches the Baptist, asking the same question. They are hated by the people because they collected taxes for the Roman and  enriched themselves by extorting money from the weak and defenceless. The Baptist does not ask them to change profession, but not to take advantage of their trade to exploit the poor.

Do we act as “tax collectors” sometimes? When we do business or perform some services, if we demand a very high pay for our goods or performance, with an excuse that “These are the set rates,” we behave like the tax collectors. If we behave like a tax collector, we cannot prepare for Christmas simply by reciting a few prayers.

 

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15 December 2024

Luke 3: 10-18 

Prepare the Way: A Call to True Conversion and Compassion

In today’s Gospel, the crowds approach John the Baptist with a profound question: “What should we do?” This question echoes through the ages, especially as we face the challenges of modern life—inequality, indifference, and a culture that often prioritises material success over love and service. John’s response is startling in its simplicity and relevance: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.”  

This Advent, as we prepare for the coming of Christ, the call to conversion resounds. True conversion is not merely a shift in outward behaviours but a reordering of our hearts and priorities. Too often, we live with an upside-down scale of values—putting wealth, career, and comfort above faith and love. John reminds us that conversion means placing God and neighbour at the centre, bearing fruits that reflect this transformation.   

The Gospel challenges us to confront sins we often overlook—sins of omission. When we ignore the hungry, fail to comfort the lonely, or turn away from injustice, we deny the love of God in our hearts. As James reminds us, “If you know how to do good and do not do it, it is sin” (James 4:17).  

John’s message also speaks to every profession and vocation. Whether we are tax collectors, soldiers, or teachers, we are called to act with integrity, kindness, and a spirit of service. Conversion doesn’t mean abandoning our roles but transforming how we live them.  

This Advent, let us prepare to welcome Christ with hearts purified by the “fire” of His Spirit. Allow the Gospel to act like a winnowing wind, removing selfishness and fear, and leaving only the grain of love and truth. Let us embrace this good news and live as witnesses of His Kingdom.

 

Prepare the Way: A Call to True Conversion and Compassion - Youtube