Having a hard time with the holidays?

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Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent
(Scriptures for today's liturgy)

(You'll need to listen to the audio for the musical elements in this homily)

Audio for homily

Happy holidays! Happy Holidays!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
It’s the hap-happiest time of the year!

That’s what the songs say but the truth may be different.

• If you tear off the bright ribbons and wrappings of Christmas,
you might uncover some sadness underneath...
• If you look closely behind all the quick and easy holiday smiles,
you might find tears, tracing a trail down worried faces…
• As you listen to Christmas music,
you might hear hearts echoing the emptiness of hurt and loss…

Much of what this season pretends to be is, for many, just that:
a pretense, a posture: a presumption
that we’re all supposed to feel and act in a particular way,
-- in a particularly joyful way.
For many, that’s very difficult; for some it’s nearly impossible.

So St. Paul’s words today might come at just the right time.
even if what he wrote might seem more a part of the problem
than the solution.
Remember these words from the second scripture?

Rejoice always! 
Pray without ceasing!
In all circumstance give thanks!

That’s a tall order,
especially if you find the holidays to be a difficult time.
But it’s a tall order that might serve us very well.

Rejoice always!
In the hard times, on the most difficult days, on the loneliest of nights,
rather than sitting with the sadness and losing ourselves to grief,
we can search our hearts for the memories and stories
of joy that has been ours.
We can savor those memories
and invite them to lighten our heavy hearts,
to shine like a candle against the darkness:
not to quench the Spirit who always seeks to lift us up.
We can rejoice always
if we treasure the joys that have been ours.

Pray without ceasing!
Some people are tired of praying.
They’re tired of praying because they’ve prayed for so long for
someone, or something or for themselves
and it seems that God’s not answering - maybe not even listening.
But no prayer every leaves our lips without God’s hearing it
and even unspoken prayers, hiding in our hearts' silence,
are all heard by God.
God’s might not answer quickly or in the way we want,
but prayer always draws us closer to the Lord,
who knew, himself, what it was to cry out
when it seemed no one was listening… and no one was answering.
We may not readily receive what we pray for
but every prayer draws us closer to the love of God
and the presence, the companionship of god
is the first answer to every prayer.

And Paul writes: In all circumstances, give thanks!
No matter what the situation, in good times and in bad,
we need to thank God for what we have, for all that we’ve received,
even and especially,
when we find ourselves needing, wanting, asking for more.
So often, when we’re truly grateful for all that we do have,
the list of things we think we need shortens quickly.
As it is with our joys, so it is with our gratitude.
I may not be joyful today and I might be in need today,
but we all have a history of God’s goodness to us
and for which we have reason to give thanks and praise

Rejoice always!

Pray without ceasing!

And in all circumstances, give thanks!

Let’s stop for a moment and close our eyes…
and remember something joyful in our lives…

And in prayer, let us give thanks to God for that joy…

And hold that joy in your heart for a moment…

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!


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