Good Morning 12-17

THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT.

"This is the day the LORD hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

On this joyful (Gaudette) Sunday, we light the Shepherds Candle. What great joy filled the hearts of the shepherds. That joy even today cannot be contained as it spills to overflowing as we speak and share the good news of the Savior.

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18

John the Baptist gets the week off to a fierce and frightening start. He hisses a verbal assault, unleashes a spoken slap. "Vipers" he says, to the very crowds that approach him for baptism.

Anticipating their response to such a belittling label, he reacts before they can voice their defense, briskly cutting it from beneath them. No statue of birth matters a whit to God who is eager to wield an axe at the feet of the fruitless, says John.

John calls them, vipers, but it is repentance to which he calls them, a repentance that bears fruit worthy of turning one's life around, He cites concrete examples in verses 10-14 in Luke 3.

John is an Advent slap in the face that does not harm but rather serves as a wake up call for sleepy Christians. May we respond to his call with a renewed commitment to ethical actions, and an expression of thanks as well.

Repentance is to leave the sin
That I had loved before
And show that I am grieved by it
By doing it no more.

PRAY- Almighty God, through John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, You once proclaimed salvation; now grant that we may know this salvation and serve You in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. Amen