Third Week of Advent: We worship what we love most

Today is Gaudete Sunday, which is always celebrated on the third week of Advent. The day takes its name from the Latin word for Rejoice! based on the idea that our joy increases the closer we get to Christmas, or rather, the closer we get to Christ. Thus St. Paul’s instruction in today’s second reading: Rejoice always. 1 Thess. 5.1
 
What does St. Paul’s admonition to ‘rejoice always’ have to do with the Christmas story? Angels appear in the Christmas story throughout, but in Luke’s Gospel the angelic appearance starts in the Jerusalem Temple, in the Holy of Holies. There Zachariah was offering incense when the angel told him that he will have a son and he will name him John. So, in the Gospel today, John the Baptist, the only first-born son of the priest Zachariah, is not in the Temple like a priest should be. The Temple is where worship takes place. Instead, John is on the river Jordan calling the people to purify their hearts before God. Why did the angel appear in the Temple, of all places? It has something to do with true worship of the God.
 
Prayer without ceasing
Is it even possible to rejoice always as St. Paul said? Joy in my daily commute? Joy when my kids or grandkids are driving me nuts? Joy when stuff at work is insane and stressing me out? Joy when I’m falling behind at school? Isn’t that kind of challenging? No, it’s not challenging, it’s impossible, if you base your joy on circumstances. But the joy that Scripture refers to has absolutely nothing to do with circumstances. God’s will is that you always have joy regardless of your circumstances. It is bigger than your circumstances. And it’s bigger than you. The joy that is referred to in the Bible is not a feeling or an emotion, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit and it is the fruit of prayer.  The circumstances of life rob us of joy; stress and tension, anger, envy, pride, self-centeredness and worry fear. The antidote to everything that robs us of joy is prayer.  A little daily quiet time or prayer time is key to making progress in your spiritual health. But it seems like Paul is indicating something more. When he says:
 

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thess. 5.17

 
Prayer without ceasing is an impossible goal for any of us, especially all of us who can have a problem remaining focused for even a few minutes. So what is he talking about. It turns out there is a key to this, and Paul himself gives it to us. He says:
 

Rejoice always.
Pray without ceasing.
In all circumstances, give thanks
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thess. 5.17-18

 
Paul wrote often about the practice of continual prayer, and usually he did it in the context of gratitude or thanksgiving. It is about worship. Worship is ascribing worth and value to something, investing our time and attention and money into it. Giving ourselves and our lives to something or someone else. We tend to worship what we believe will give meaning and purpose to our lives. We give our time and abilities and energy to what we worship.
 
Authentic Worship
You and I were made to worship. Like eating or sleeping you simply cannot live and not worship. You will worship. The question is not if you will worship or not; the question is what will you worship. People worship money, power, pleasure, sports, their kids, or their kid’s sports. And you can tell because its where they invest their time, their energy, their enthusiasm and their money. The problem with worship of anything that isn’t God is that it is circumstantial, it might make you happy and it might make you sad.  You can enjoy football, but you ought not worship it.  You should love your children, but you should not worship them. Worship of anything that isn’t God ends in frustration.
 
Authentic worship, on the other hand, is properly and fully directed to God and here’s the point that St. Paul is making; worship is a life-style.  Worship can be a part of the whole of your life. That’s what angels do, they worship God with the whole of their being and all of their activity. Angels live in God’s presence and stay focused on God. Scripture describes them as constantly worshiping and praising God. This is, in part, what Jesus meant when he said that when we die we will live like angels in heaven. Mark 12:25. In fact one of the most solemn and sacred moments at Mass is taken from the prophet Isaiah’s description of angelic worship: at a great distance

I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted,
and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him were angels, and they were calling out
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6.1-3

Later, on the first Christmas, angels appeared outside of Bethlehem with worship that we also use at Mass, they sing:

“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to people of good will.” Luke 2.14

 
Heaven came down to earth. The angels come and worship God who has become a human being, it all gets thoroughly and permanently mixed up together at Christmas.
 
The Mass and Worship
This whole mystery unfolds here at the Mass. The Mass is the source and the summit of the whole of our Christian living.

• Here we are united in worship with the angels and saints, to direct all of our worship to God.

• Here we enter into a ritual that takes us through the progress of this mystery, using words that angels themselves use.

• Here we come to the very source of our joy which is salvation in Christ, and we give thanks

• Here is Christ who comes to us in simplicity and humility as food.

• Here we receive what we worship to become more like him.

• And from here we are sent back out into the whole of our lives to live this mystery in everything that we do, each relationship we have, our work, our family, our friends.

The Mass can be the source and summit of a life of worship, in which we give thanks to God for everything.
 
How do we prepare to worship?
In today’s gospel reading we hear the familiar story that always accompanies our Advent celebration: the story of John the Baptist. The greatest and last of all the prophets John is a towering figure in the Gospels who helps us recognize and receive Christ. The Bible says
 

He came to testify to the light
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light
But he came to testify to the light. John 1.6-7

The angel appears to Zachariah during his act of worship. What is being cleansed is the Temple and restored to true worship. That’s what angels and saints, and ordinary everyday Christ-followers do, we’re not the light, he is, we testify to the light. St. Paul teaches that it is not enough to offer sacrifice in the Temple or dutifully attend mass unless we rejoice always, like the angels, in God’s creation. Our daily prayer time and our weekly worship at Mass are not meant to be the sum total of our worship. Our lives should be worshipful lives. When we do this, we pray without ceasing.

What can we do?

Prayer: We’ve talked before about a dedicated prayer time or quiet time every day. And if you don’t do that you should, you should make it a priority for the New Year. Even 5 or 6 minutes of quiet prayer can make a huge difference in the quality and experience of our life. If you want help with that you can sign up for our daily devotional novenas and on our prayer page, start the habit of a daily rosary or just sit quietly and speak to and listen to God.
 
Eucharistic Adoration: One of the very best ways you can make progress in your spiritual life is to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament, in Eucharistic Adoration. We celebrate Eucharistic Adoration Tuesday nights during our Mother of Perpetual Help Devotion. It can be a great time to visit with the kids and also celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. We also have Eucharistic Adoration after daily mass on Thursday mornings.