3rd Sunday of Advent Year (B)

Isa. 61: 1-2a; 10-11; Lq. 1: 46-50, 53-54; 1 Tess. 5: 16-24; John 1: 6-8, 19-28

Read: “I rejoice and rejoice even more with the Lord, my soul leaps with joy through my God”. “My spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour”. “Be always joyful, pray without stopping, praise God in everything”. There was a man sent by God, named John. He came as a witness, so as to be witness to the light, so that all would believe. He was not the light, but to be witness to the light”.

Pray: Let us pray that Jesus will come, to renew our heart, to make our heart full of joy, because His joy is our strength.

Reflect: During this time of the pandemic, it is possible that one does not wish to hear of joy. In this darkness, Jesus still wishes to be the light that lightens our life so that we will experience joy. St. John the Baptist said: “I am the voice of one shouting in the desert. Pave the way for the Lord”. So as to recognise Christ as the Light, a witness like John the Baptist is necessary; he was capable of recognising his own identity of being simply the voice that was to convey the message that the Lord was coming. Those who do not recognise who he is ….who do not recognise that every good thing that he has comes from God, and remains placing his hope on his own efforts, instead on the goodness and fidelity of God, cannot welcome Jesus who is coming, shedding his joy, and giving his own evidence.

 Act: Where there is a lack of good heartedness let us be a witness of the joy of the Gospel brought to us by Jesus.