Today is what we call Gaudete Sunday.  It is recognized, of course, by the rose-colored candle over there.  So close is our salvation, we already anticipate the great day of Christ’s birth.  “Rejoice Sunday” would be an English translation of Gaudete for the Latin-lovers, that they use that word to remind us that we are already anticipating that birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  In out midst, in our heart and in our community and in our world.

In today’s gospel we are reminded by John the Baptist that he is not the light.  He is only there to give testimony to the light.  He is not the one that they expect.  Some years ago, back in 1975, many years ago, Time magazine came out with an article entitled Saints Among Us.  It featured Mother Teresa and her work with the poor and dying of India.   And it highlighted the work of other men and women who are messengers of hope and love – persons through whom the light of God shines.  Mother Teresa was one of them.  Dorothy Day, the co-founder of Catholic Worker, to help those in need and those seeking places to live for immigrants coming to our country.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran pastor and theologian who spoke out against Nazism in Germany and he was put to death for doing that.   I like to suggest some other people who also were saints among us – John the XXIII who opened up the church to embrace the world and not to be afraid of the world, but to embrace it and open the doors that all people might be welcomed into that church.  John Paul II - I have a happy memory of this recent pope who also, through his long pontificate, reminded us once again to draw close to the Christ and drew in a lot of the youth as part of that.

And I’d like to suggest for our own self and our own community, maybe our mothers and fathers, our grandparents or maybe our aunts and uncles, and I will go so far as even to say maybe some of our politicians and maybe somebody in our community that you might know who does a lot of civil work, work helping the poor, reaching out to those in need – housing, shelter.  These are the saints among us that this article in Time magazine was speaking about and I can so easily agree with them.  If you get out of the mindset of saints in the sense of canonization by the church, then you will have no problem.  For the saint is a messenger of hope and of love, a person through whom the light of God shines.  And you can look at yourself and say, Well, if that is the standard, then I think that maybe I would be a saint and not be afraid to say that.  And that would be true.  For we are all called to be a messenger of hope, especially in this season, but all throughout the year.  We’re all called to be a messenger of love and forgiveness – every one of us – and what I like about this criterion for sainthood is to be everyone, even our little children, our teenagers and young adults, and adults.  All of us can be messengers of hope and love and the question may be What are we missing? is saying Am I?  Looking at our self-evaluation and say, well, am I that messenger of hope?  In a few minutes we’ll dismiss our catechumens and our candidates and they’ll study the Word a little closer.  The gospel that we just heard and the other readings and they may say also Yes, am I also a messenger that brings hope and love within my family, within my community, within my coworkers.  Am I the one, maybe the light of God shines through?

These are the, I think, questions that are good reflective questions in this Advent time, especially drawing so near that we hear also from the prophet Isaiah that you have been anointed to bring glad tidings, you have been anointed to release prisoners from prison, you have been anointed to help those who are downtrodden, you have been anointed to bring this good news.  For the Christian to treat the life of Christ as static and not dynamic is very misguided.  The live as a Christian is not just to think about God or to analyze or to theologize, nor does it involve being burdened with a long list of morals – a king of perpetual Lent.  Truth, goodness, reason, morality are all essential to religion but they are not the dynamic core of religion.  Rather, the very heart of life in Christ is turning to God in joy and grief, arguing with God when it is appropriate, and calling upon God’s power as it is needed.  In short, the Christian life is sharing with God in prayerful intimacy all of the diverse parts of our daily existence.  This mysterious, yet genuine daily intimacy is the hidden meaning of the phrase Realized Eschatology.  How else could Paul write to the Corinthian church struggling with lust and greed that God’s will for them was joy, happiness and constant thanksgiving?  How else could we today look like 3rd Isaiah said, behind the brokenness and the human foibles of our own church and see the “bride of Christ” radiant with salvation and justice?  That is one of the great joys of Christians that are following Christ is that we are always hopeful people, that we are always looking for the ways to be redeemed and to forgive people, we are always constantly reminded that we rejoice that we have been anointed.  Every one of us has been anointed to bring these glad tidings in our world and not only in this building of the church, but more so outside in the community.  How many countless opportunities are we given here at Christ the King to shine with the light of God through us with love and hope and by helping those who are in need, bringing food for the poor, supporting our teenagers in their time of need, helping the emancipated youth who are seeking your help over there?  When you go shopping, if you’re going shopping, when you hear the bells of the Salvation Army asking for donations.  These are all opportunities for us to be saints.  These are the opportunities that the Lord places before us and there are many, many more.  And they all came about, I think, because you have been in contact and you have encountered people in your life, people in your family, people in this assembly maybe who have the light of God shining through them like John the Baptist says “I am not the light, I have come to give testimony to the light as each one of us gives testimony to that light of Christ.  That’s what makes the Christian man and woman, child and teenager, young adult different in this world.  In our times right now of losing jobs, of the financial difficulties, of maybe war in different places – that we’re always hopeful.  Maybe not so much joyfully today but we have a hopeful heart and that’s because we are so eager to welcome our Savior in our heart and in our world.

I’m going to leave you with this story about a woman and it may also think of somebody that you might know.  There was this grandmother, a down-to-earth woman, who spent most of her life isolated on a farm.  She was married at a very early age – 15 – and this mother of 14 children was a widow for over 25 years.  Still she had never been more than 50 miles from her birthplace.  But how this woman lived.  She knew and she loved the seasons and could make a garden grown.  She knew the ways of animals and children and of illness, the rhythms of birth and death and grief.  Hers was a journey of faith and love, a life rich with the presence of God, and the faith of her children was a witness to this.  The grandmother’s daughter died and grandma still would light a candle for her daughter every Sunday.  Reflecting upon her own age, she concluded by saying that having seen so much of this world, she was really much more curious about the next.  She hadn’t traveled much but she had seen a lot.  The calm, good humor of her remarks revealed a woman a bit tired by advanced age but still very hopeful, still moving on in her life in Christ, and like John the Baptist, she was a living witness that they stand among us and live among us too often unknown and unrecognized.  The Savior who can bring us to God.

That little story reminds us that in the coming week, may you, myself and all of us seek out, or recognize, or maybe we are the people or the savior who brings us to God.  That is what this rejoicing is about – that we might be the one that draws someone who has a sagging spirit, who feels down or a little alone, or feels left out – that we bring them and let God’s light shine through us.  And that may be done by a smile, that may be done by a hello, that may be done by a good morning, that may be done by giving some financial help, that may be done by leaving off a gift for someone in need.  For we all know the season of Christmas is not about me, it is not about me getting gifts.  Remember the season for the Christian is about giving a gift and that gift is not always of great financial, or shall we say, economic value?  It’s not always the How much is the gift?  It may be yourself!  And when you put it that way, everyone can give a gift.  And so you mothers and fathers, and grandparents and guardians who are raising children, this is what is the very dynamic core of Christianity.  Yes, make sure they get their sacraments and make sure they know their prayers, and all that’s a given.  But that’s not the most important.  The dynamic part of following Christ is that they give of themselves and to remember that they are that gift as Jesus Christ is the gift to us in this season and in all times.