Most Reverend José H. Gomez Archbishop of Los Angeles
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels December 11, 2022
My brothers and sisters in Christ,1
So we are getting closer to Christmas!
And as know, today, this third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” as we know, is the Latin word that means, “rejoice.”
And we rejoice because the Lord is near and become is coming brings us salvation, the promise of a new life.
And, as we notice, throughout Advent in our first readings for these past Sundays and today, we have some beautiful descriptions of the new world and the new life that the Savior will bring when he comes.
Today, the prophet Isaiah sees a new paradise — flowers blooming in the desert, all of nature singing a joyful song. The blind will see, and the deaf will hear; the lame will walk, and the mute will sing.
And in the midst of all of this beauty, we have this promise, from the prophet Isaiah in this morning’s first reading: “Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy, the; they will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.”
So my brothers and sisters, it is an extraordinary and powerful vision.
And this is a picture of the deep spiritual reality of what happens with the Incarnation, what happens at Christmas. We are the ones whom the Lord comes to ransom and bring back to God. We are the ones, he will crown with a joy that never ends, the joy of salvation.
So this is the beautiful mystery of this holy season. With the coming of Jesus, the world has a new beginning; every soul has a new beginning. Your soul and my soul.
The prophet tells us today: “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God … he comes to save you!”
And that’s also the question today in the passage of the Gospel. St. John the Baptist, as we heard, is in Herod’s jail, and, as we know, he is going to be killed.
And of course, we know that St. John the Baptist knows that Jesus is the Savior; he recognized that when he baptized Jesus.
But in the Gospel today he sends his disciples to Jesus so that they will know that he is the One who was promised to come; so that they will have their own personal encounter with Jesus, with Jesus’ saving power.
And so, as we heard, Jesus says to them: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”
So in Jesus, the promises of the prophets are fulfilled. The new world comes with the beautiful mystery of Bethlehem, the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is, my brothers and sisters, exactly what we are waiting for at Christmas. But for us — each one of us — it is a new kind of waiting, a new kind of expectation. Because with the coming of Jesus, our sense of time and history is all changed.
What that means is that Jesus wants to show us how to live in the present, how to lead a life that is holy, a life that is divine. He wants to show us how our ordinary everyday lives can be transformed, made new. He wants to teach us how our daily life can become a pathway to God.
So Jesus tells John’s disciples in today’s Gospel to report what they “see and hear.” And he is calling us today, in the same way, to open our eyes and open our ears — and to experience all the many ways that Jesus is with us, working in the world and working in our personal lives.
That’s why we rejoice today! Joy comes in knowing God’s love and presence. And we know that God is with us, that he is close to us, that he is longing to share in our lives.
All that he asks, my dear brothers and sisters, is that we open our hearts — to trust in his power, to trust in his love, to trust in his teaching.
Yes, Jesus is still working, with his saving power, in our world. And he wants to work through you and through me.
First, asking us to open our hearts and then going out to talk to our brothers and sisters the beauty of what Christmas is all about — the coming of Jesus who is with us.
St. Mother Teresa once said, this is a beautiful quote of St. Mother Teresa: “We wait impatiently for paradise, where God is, but it is in our power to be in paradise even here on earth and from this moment. Being happy with God means loving like him, helping like him, giving like him, serving like him.”2
So this is the beautiful truth of our life, of our vocation, it is a truth that the saints were always teaching. We know that God is with us — we know that God is especially with us when we love each other. Where there is love, there is God.
So, let us ask for that grace to love in all things.
This is how we keep the joy of Christmas in our hearts every day — by loving as others as Jesus loves them, by serving others, especially those who are poor and vulnerable.
My brothers and sisters, love is the path. Trying to be loving to other people, especially our families and the people that are close to us.
And then in the second reading of today’s Mass, St. James says to us: “Make your hearts firm, because the Lord is at hand!”
Let’s pray for that grace, to open our hearts to know the love of Jesus who comes to be with us, and let’s ask for the grace to open our arms and to share his love with others in our lives!
So as we continue on this Advent journey, let us ask the Mary our Blessed Mother to help all of us come to see and hear and experience the Child who is born for us, that we may know his salvation and love. That we can see how important it is to open our hearts and at the same time, with our hearts love our people, especially as I said those close to us — in our families, and in our parishes, and in our society.
1. Readings: Isa. 35:1–6, 10; Ps. 146:6–10; Jas. 5:7–10; Matt. 11:2–11.