Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent 2023

Rejoice?  Let nothing steal your joy!!!

 

Today we celebrate “Rejoice” Sunday…"Rejoice" is the first word of our entrance antiphon, and we hear about the need to rejoice in both the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading, and the first 2 words from our 2^nd reading are St. Paul’s telling the Thessalonians to “Rejoice always”

 

First of all, joy is filtered through each of our different personalities, it does not look the same in every human person, but joy is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

There are lots of things “of the world” that are constantly trying to steal our joy.  I would just like to talk about the main one that I have seen robbing my joy in my life…smartphones/social media/tv

 

I had over 100,000 followers on social media, but I recognized around the time I stepped away for chemo that it was all too much, and all of it was turning me into a person I did not like.

 

I am a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan, and his main works is “The Lord of the Rings”.  The Devil character has these “seeing stones” scattered around the world, about 8 of them, and the Devil character is not allowed to show anything that isn’t true, but he shows true things in such a way to get people to despair…the Devil character intentionally withholds the fuller picture…

 

And that is just the perfect analogy for what our smart phones/social media and televisions do…they show true things, but often in such a way as to get us to not rejoice but rather to fall into despair.

 

I got rid of my smartphone and got off all social media and I don’t watch any television anymore.  We have a tv in the rectory, but it doesn’t have any channels and we have it just to watch Lord of the Rings😊

 

I have become infinitely more full of joy since getting rid of my smartphone, and social media and tv.

 

This is the season where young people ask for smartphones…I can’t recommend a lightphone enough.  (click here to learn more)  It has texting, phone calls, and driving directions…it would make the perfect gift for any child or teenager (or adult)

 

Let us, during this Mass, ask the Lord to show us anything in our lives that is robbing us of our joy, and let us quickly remove those things from our life!