Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2008 (Cycle B)

Scripture Readings
First: Is 61:1-2a, 10-11
Second: 1 Thes 5:16-24
Gospel: Jn 1:6-8, 19-28

Prepared by: Fr. Lawrence J. Donohoo, O.P.

1. Subject Matter
 First Reading: The Lord‟s Anointed announces his mission and the grace given him to fulfill it.
 Second Reading: St. Paul‟s general exhortation balances a prudential moderation with respect to
worldly matters and a holy immoderation with respect to spiritual matters.
 Gospel: By defining himself in terms of negation and limitation, John reveals his identity and thereby
points to Christ.

2. Exegetical Notes
 “With these words [of Is. 61] Jesus announced that the messianic era had come (Luke 4:16-21).
Originally they referred to one of the leaders of the early postexilic Isaian school. . .There are many
points of contact with the earlier major servant songs: soliloquy as in the second and third songs; spirit
anointing (42:1); mission of mercy (42:2-3,6-7); year of favor (49:8). These contacts highlight the
unique importance of the major servant songs.” (NJBC)
 The programmatic and summary character of Is. 61:1-2a is revealed by the extraordinary concentration
of loaded Biblical themes: “spirit,” “anointed,” “the poor,” “year of favor,” “day of vindication.”
 “Throughout the poem Tr-Isa [Trito-Isaiah) looks to the total salvation of God‟s people—bodily and
spiritually, individually and socially.” (NJBC) This meshes wonderfully with Paul‟s “prayer” that
constitutes the second half of today‟s second reading.
 The Gospel passage is the first of a series of passages on the role of JBap; he is not a messianic figure
but a witness. This insertion into the hymn at this point shifts the focus of what follows from the
activity of the Logos in salvation history to the incarnation.” (NJBC)
3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
 436 The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means
“anointed.” It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine
mission that “Christ” signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave
were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets.
This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his
kingdom definitively. It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once
as king and priest, and also as prophet. Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold
office of priest, prophet and king.
 695 The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, to the point of becoming a
synonym for the Holy Spirit. . . .Jesus is God's Anointed in a unique way: the humanity the Son
assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit established him as “Christ.”
 716 The People of the “poor”--those who, humble and meek, rely solely on their God's mysterious
plans, who await the justice, not of men but of the Messiah--are in the end the great achievement of the
Holy Spirit's hidden mission during the time of the promises that prepare for Christ's coming. It is this
quality of heart, purified and enlightened by the Spirit, which is expressed in the Psalms. In these poor,
the Spirit is making ready “a people prepared for the Lord.”
 2633 When we share in God's saving love, we understand that every need can become the object of
petition. Christ, who assumed all things in order to redeem all things, is glorified by what we ask the
Father in his name. It is with this confidence that St. James and St. Paul exhort us to pray at all times.
 367 Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may
sanctify his people “wholly,” with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord‟s
coming. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. “Spirit”
signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be
raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.”
 2742 “[W]e have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but it has been
laid down that we are to pray without ceasing.” (Evagrius Ponticus) This tireless fervor can come only
from love. Against our dullness and laziness, the battle of prayer is that of humble, trusting, and
persevering love.
 2638 As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. The
letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it
 718 John is “Elijah [who] must come.” The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the
forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of
“[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
 522 The coming of God's Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it
over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and
symbols of the "First Covenant". He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who
succeeded one another in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation
of this coming.
 523 St. John the Baptist is the Lord's immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way.
"Prophet of the Most High", John surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last. He inaugurates the
Gospel, already from his mother's womb welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being "the
friend of the bridegroom", whom he points out as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
 world". Going before Jesus "in the spirit and power of Elijah", John bears witness to Christ in his
preaching, by his Baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom.
 719 John the Baptist is “more than a prophet.” In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through
the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah. He proclaims the imminence of
the consolation of Israel; he is the “voice” of the Consoler who is coming. As the Spirit of truth will
also do, John “came to bear witness to the light.” In John's sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion
the careful search of the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels. “He on whom you see the
Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have
borne witness that this is the Son of God. . . . Behold, the Lamb of God.”
 535 Jesus' public life begins with his baptism by John in the Jordan. John preaches “a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins”. A crowd of sinners - tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and
Sadducees, and prostitutes- come to be baptized by him.

4. Patristic Commentary
 St. John Chrysostom: “It is not because the light lacked the testimony, but for the reason which John
himself self gives, that is, that all might believe in him [Christ]. For as he put on flesh to save all from
death, so he sent before himself a human preacher in order that the sound of a voice like their own
might the more easily draw people to himself.”
 Origen: “The Jews of Jerusalem, being of the same kin as the Baptist, who was of the priestly stock,
send priests and Levites to ask him who he is; that is, men considered to hold a superior rank to the
rest of their order by God‟s election and coming from that city favored above all others, Jerusalem.
Such is the reverential way in which they interrogate John. We read of no such proceeding towards
Christ. But what the Jews did to John, John in turn does to Christ when he asks him through his
disciples: „Are you he that is to come, or should we look for another?‟”
 Theophilus: “[John the Baptist] declared the truth plainly, while all who were under the law spoke
obscurely.”
 St. Gregory the Great: “John cries in the wilderness because it is to forsaken and destitute Judea that
he bears the consolatory tidings of a redeemer. . . .The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart,
when the word of truth is heard with humility; the way of the Lord is made straight to the heart, when
the life is formed upon the precept.”
 Origen: “There is need of the voice crying in the wilderness, that the soul, forsaken by God, may be
recalled to making straight the way of the Lord, following no more the crooked paths of the serpent.
This has reference both to the contemplative life, as enlightened by truth, without mixture of
falsehood, and to the practical, as following up the correct perception by the suitable action.”

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars

 St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Pachomius were among the founding fathers of monasticism, who
returned to the desert in order to hear more clearly the word of the Lord, to watch his transforming
power at work in the forbidding environment of the human heart in the earthly desert, and to follow St.
Paul‟s admonition of praying constantly.
 At his first Mass, St. John de Matha was inspired to dedicate his life to the ransom of Catholic warriors
who were enslaved by the Muslims during the Crusades. To prepare himself for this work, he visited
 the hermit, St. Felix of Valois, and revealed his plan to him. St. Felix was convinced that the design
was from God and offered his help. Together they founded the Order of the Holy Trinity (the
Trinitarians) to ransom the captives. Numerous vocations came to the Order. The Trinitarians traveled
with the Crusaders, teaching the soldiers, caring for the sick, and redeeming the captives. During his
life, St. John managed to free large numbers of Catholic slaves in Morocco, Tunis, and Spain.

6. Quotations of Pope Benedict

 “One aspect of Advent is a waiting that is full of hope. In this, Advent enables us to understand the
content and meaning of Christian time and of history as such. Man is always waiting in his life. . .
Mankind has never been able to cease hoping for better times. Christians have always hoped that the
Lord will always be present in history and that he will gather up all our tears and all our troubles so
that everything will be explained and fulfilled in his kingdom.”
 “Let us gaze on John the Baptist. Challenging and active he stands before us, a „type‟ of the manly
vocation. In harsh terms he demands metanoia, a radical transformation of attitudes. Those who would
be Christians must be „transformed‟ every again. Our natural disposition, indeed, finds us always
ready to assert ourselves to pay like with like, to put ourselves at the center.”
 “John appears in the wilderness as a man dedicated to God. First of all he preaches repentance,
purification, and the gathering together of the people for the coming of God. In this sense this
proclamation summarizes the whole of prophecy at the very moment when history is reaching its goal.
His mission is to open the door for God, so that Israel is ready to welcome and him and to prepare for
his hour in history.”

7. Other Considerations

 The omission of 61:3-9 intensifies the contrast of the two voices in today‟s first reading. The first
voice is that of the Prophet, fulfilled in Christ. The second voice is that of Israel, but also applied to
Our Lady. The two voices are related to each other as giver and receiver, or as the one who prophesies
fulfillment and the one who receives its blessings.
 The omission of Jn. 1:9-18 (one half of the famous Prologue) obscures the christocentric orientation of
this passage that consequently appears overly concentrated on John the Baptist.
 John the Baptist‟s appearance represents the second of three comings we celebrate in the Advent
season. It follows the anticipation of the coming of the Lord at the close of the age; it announces the
coming of Christ in our midst; it presages the celebration of Jesus‟ birth at the close of Advent. This
second coming, symbolized by John the Baptist, highlights the tension between the not-yet and already
present—a Scriptural representation of our own situation and predicament. The present time is, as it
were, the season of Advent writ large.
 The problem for John the Baptist‟s contemporaries was that the historical Messiah still had not
appeared; our problem is that he already has. Their challenge was to imagine what might be; ours is to
retrieve what already has been in order to prepare the way for his future.
 For that reason, it is false to understand the Advent season as a time for “getting in the Christmas
spirit.” We can only prepare for Christmas by allowing God to surprise us anew, by delaying his
 coming through a journey into the wilderness with John the Baptist, by permitting this past mystery to
be present to us in a way.
 We go to the desert to find Advent because here we hear the voice of one crying in the desert. This is
the proper setting of Advent because the desert is on the edge of Israel and of human experience. It is
the place of crossing from Egypt to the Promised Land. It is here that Hosea remembers the original
honeymoon between God and his people having occurred and so the paradise where a second
encounter must take place. This is the land where the blind see and the deaf hear because all
distractions that cause blindness and deafness are destroyed.. Here is the land of extremes and
contrasts wherein we come to our senses more vividly and our helplessness more dramatically. The
desert is the wild, calming place where God turns things upside down, changing “the desert into a
pool; barren land into an oasis” (Ps. 107)--where one discovers one's sinfulness anew when God‟s
forerunner gives “his people knowledge of their sins.” But the desert is also the place where God
encamps and so where he mostly easily can find us because here it is that he is most easily found.
 In his reflection on hope, St. Thomas shows himself a disciple of Isaiah by teaching that hope is
concerned with what lies in the future, but only as anchored in the past and appearing the present. We
hope in the present for what is still ahead of us by imagining. But imagination requires a past that
creates a reason for hope—but still a past that is unable to fulfill the promise. Yet the past bears the
weight of the promise by giving us the desire for what we hope for. To hope, then, is to imagine what,
God willing, we will have in the future in a real way. And if it is God who is imagining for us, then it
is God willing, and we are the hearers of prophecy. If to hope is to imagine with God the good things
he wants still to give us, it is already to possess in some way what we hope to have in fulness—and
above all, to possess him who bears us to himself as the One we seek.

Recommended Resources
Benedict XVI. Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI. Edited by Peter John Cameron. Yonkers:
Magnificat, 2006.
Brown, Raymond A., Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical
Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1990.
New Catholic Encyclopedia (1911).
Thomas Aquinas, St. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels. Works of the Fathers. Vol. 3, Pt.
2. London, 1843. Reprinted by The St. Austin Press, 1997.