Sof 3, 14-18a / Sal: Is 12, 2-6 / Fil 4, 4-7 / Lc 3, 10-18

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The texts of the Liturgy seem to offer us the essential elements for a Christmas worthy of the name. The prophet Zephaniah urgently calls for joy and his appeal is launched – in the 6th century BC. – in a period of so many and such calamities as to make God feel an almost invincible distance. The apostle Paul shows us the authentic sign of a solid joy: kindness! The Baptist’s answers to those who ask him what the conversion of which he is herald means, help us to find ways to evangelize our life to make it a place of manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Each of us is called to become a prophet and precursor of ‘Advent of Christ the Lord as a powerful savior who sets our joy back on its feet and frees us from all fear. The apostle Paul takes up John’s attitude with a word that gives flavor to this Sunday: «Rejoice in the Lord always … let your kindness be known to all» (Phil 4, 4-5). The serenity raccommanded by the apostle Paul is not the superficial indifference of the naive or the crafty, it is an act of faith in the Kingdom of God that bursts into our history to the point of transfiguring it. The answers that John the Baptist gives to his interlocutors who ask him for indications for salvation, are in reality an exhortation to live one’s condition with trust, with peace and in a mutual attention of love that generates true joy and makes room for Him. that comes to «cleanse» (Lk 3, 17) the threshing floor of our heart from everything that makes harmony and peace less easy. In a word, we are called to participate in the same joy of God which is revealed in Christ Jesus as «something primordial, fundamental and immutable».

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Community of the Koinonia de la Visitation

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey