Third Sunday of Advent 12 December 2021

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.

This Sunday the mood of the Liturgy moves to calling us to remember the first coming of Jesus. It asks us to recall the many gifts our world received following the entry into our lives of the presence and work of Jesus.

We labour under the difficulty of 2000 years of Christian inheritance and the centuries of reflection and practise. The stark contrast proclaimed by Jesus was literally revolutionary to the first generations of those who committed to “The Way”. So much in our lives today, accepted more or less by all, was not the reality of the average woman or man in 30 CE.

To tell people to rejoice whilst living under the Roman yoke is perhaps akin to asking the Uighurs to be happy in their many re-education camps in China. If the tummy can stand it, a read of ‘Damascus’ by Christos Tsiolkas, though a novel, will certainly help to understand the roughness of life under the Roman yoke.

So, we have had the experience of the Covid yoke, and it is not finished.

Against that experience and faced with the call to “Rejoice” at the celebration of the gift of Jesus, the Gospel imperative today:

-Two tunics…share

-Something to eat…share

-Exact no more than your rate

-No intimidation

-No extortion

-Be content with your pay.

 

We might add:

-don’t growl too much about masks

-use the QR code

-accept restrictions for the wellbeing of our community

-respect Covid Marshalls (with or without the Tin Star) …

And regularly give thanks for this wonderful country we live in!

Add an extra prayer this week and an act of charity, for those who do not enjoy our gifts…that may assist us to receive the peace of God.

 

Mons Frank