A homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 24, 2023
2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16, Rom 16:25-27, Lk 1:26-38
On Christmas Eve 1955, a mere 20 days after I was born, a child (not me) dialed the wrong number and connected with the top-secret unlisted phone line of the North American missile defense headquarters. The young caller actually had hoped to speak with Santa Claus at the local Sears store.
Not quite.
To his eternal credit, Col. Harry Shoup, director of operations for the base, answered the child’s call and ordered his staff to check the radar for Santa and his reindeer flying from the North Pole.
Ever since then, the military organization now known as NORAD has tracked St. Nick on his worldwide mission to share Christmas joy with all believers. Volunteers from all walks of life and sponsors from every sector of the business world make NORAD Tracks Santa® possible.
Yes, for nearly three-quarters of a century, dedicated people have staffed phone lines and updated websites and operated the highest of high technology to keep children of all ages informed about how close the man with the big bag of toys and goodies is to them.
Do we have a similar tracker for Jesus, the reason for the season? Are we aware of how near he is to us, and do we know if we’re on his Naughty or Nice list?
Because Christmas is pinging on our radar.
This is the last weekend of Advent, our season of preparation, our getting ready to bring glory to our Newborn King. Through a quirk of the calendar, the Fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve. The fourth week of Advent lasts just a few hours.
The preparation period is over. It’s Go Time.
When we celebrate God-With-Us this year, when Emmanuel indeed has o-come-o-come among us as we’ve been singing all month, what will Jesus find?
I hope he doesn’t weep the way he did at Lazarus’s tomb.
There’s a shortage of peace on Earth, let alone a shortage of food, water, clothing, shelter, medicine and security.
And that shortage is as close to home as it is half a world away.
I rejoice knowing that we’ve acted with charity and justice at Thanksgiving and now at Christmas, as Christ Our King commands us every day. In this season, we also must remind ourselves that holidays come and go but the need drags on.
Everyone in need is our sister or brother. We can’t look away. And I know we won’t.
Let’s be inspired by the candles we’ve lit in our Advent wreath. The violet candles encompass Hope, Faith, Peace and Love, with our rose candle, in Advent’s third week, symbolizing Joy.
Yes, I realize I listed at least five emotions for the four candles. It’s kind of like the old joke about asking three lawyers a question and getting five answers. Even among Catholics, we can see and name the candles differently. And all of the symbols are precious to us.
We have a Love candle, because it symbolizes how “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
We have a Peace candle, because Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
We have our Gaudete Joy candle, because the Son of God does bring joy to our troubled world through every stage of his life, from refugee baby born among barn animals through the radical preacher of The Law of Love, even to the innocent victim tortured and executed for sins he did not commit. Because the ultimate joy — our salvation through his Resurrection — ignites faith, hope and love in us.
This trifecta compels us to act, especially for the least sisters and brothers among us. To bring them a hint of divine joy and, by doing so, reawaken God’s joy within ourselves.
Jesus is on our radar, because we are gathered here today in community, as church, as the Body of Christ.
Jesus is on our radar, because we are striving to improve the world individually, as community, as church, as the Body of Christ.
Jesus is on our radar, because he will find a home in our hearts this Christmas and always.
