Third Sunday of Advent 2024

At this time of year I often think about the Christmas morning of 1980. I’d spent weeks pining after a battery-operated toy electric guitar to bring my rock star fantasies to life. I remember that ecstatic moment under the tree when, having torn through the scotch-taped wrapping paper, my hands finally held the fulfillment of all desire. After inserting the C batteries in the plastic casing and striking my coolest rock-star pose, I ran happily about the house, improvising melodies on the colorful plastic buttons (it was stringless!) and showing off the most amazing Christmas gift Santa (my dad) had ever given me. I played my new guitar for hours, sharing my excitement with everyone that Christmas morning… until I sat on it. And that was that.

Christian life is a school that forms us to look perseveringly toward the fulfillment of all desire. Our faith schools us in the sometimes-difficult discipline of living in hope. Advent especially fosters this, with readings and liturgical texts that train our hearts and minds to watch and wait in darkness, as we quietly rejoice in the approaching light. The indispensable element, of course, is to continually refocus the heart on the right thing, on that alone which can truly fulfill every desire, plastic electric guitars notwithstanding.

On Gaudete Sunday, or the Sunday of Rejoicing, we are reminded that in some sense, the end of our wait is always near. We never know when a piercing ray of grace will break through the darkness and turn it on its head, any more than we know when the Prince of Peace will call us home. Life in Christ trains us to persevere in quiet joy, in times both dark and bright. As Advent gives way to the fulfillment of all desire, let us perseveringly seek Jesus, knowing that his presence is within us and around us, waiting to be known, loved, and made known. And as God sustains us in hope, may we rejoice, knowing that the Spirit of Life conforms us - even now - to the One for whose coming we so ardently yearn.