Today we celebrate this 3rd Sunday of Advent which is also known to us as Gaudete Sunday which means rejoice.
In our Gospel the crowds, tax collectors, and soldiers came onto the Lord and asked, “What should we do?” This seems to be an easy enough question, but its application required so much from them. They were told to take and give to those in need, to stop collecting more than was necessary, and to not falsely accuse others.
As we prepare for the coming of the Messiah we too must ask, “What should we do?” The response to this question may seem to require much from us. Nevertheless, no matter the difficulty all will turn into a joy and will be given every reason to rejoice if we place our trust in the Lord. It is the easier path to remain content, but the Lord always calls us towards something more.
We must remember that God is love and that this love is infinitely given. Therefore, there can be no response which is too difficult if it is given out of love. The more that we enter into it the more that we will grow in love itself. There are many who think that they love fully, but they instead do things for their own gain and without the full extent of giving without reservation.
As Saint Basil the Great puts it, “The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry. The cloak in your wardrobe belongs to the naked. The shoes you allow to rot belong to the barefoot. The money in your vaults belong to the destitute. You do injustice to every man whom you could help but do not.”
Saint Basil the Great is pointing the way towards what it means for us to love. Love requires us to see the needs of those around us and to respond to them with our life. The easier path would call us towards ignoring these needs and doing whatever we please. During this Advent season we must be like the crowds, the tax collectors, and the soldiers who came unto the Lord. They inquired what they must do and it required much of them.
Let us not only ask this question with our lips, but be willing to put the needed response into action. During the week ahead use every opportunity to consider what the Lord is calling us to do. When we discern this answer let us not avoid it out of fear, but come to embrace it to its fullest degree. In this manner we will be given every reason to rejoice as we encounter the Lord who comes the Nativity, who comes in the Most Holy Eucharist, and who will come again at the end of time.
