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Priest-Rapper Fr. Stan Fortuna, CFR
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10am
8am
(Begin homily w/rap of 2 lines from Fr. Stan.)
There’s a Franciscan priest named Fr. Stan Fortuna, CFR, who is
also a rapper. In one of his songs, Fr.
Stan raps, “There ain’t no party like a Catholic partay!” (2x w/beat, head bob & hand motions) “cuz a Catolic partay don’t stop.”
His point is that we the Church, the Body of Christ, know how to
celebrate life from beginning to end. We
celebrate with feast days, holy days, baptisms, weddings, funerals, Simbang
Gabi’s, Posadas, the Communion of Saints who are constantly rejoicing, and of
course we celebrate at Sunday Mass.
We just don’t know how to stop partying and celebrating and
rejoicing!! (RCIA candidates and kids
completing RCIA/RCIC, this is what’s gonna happen to you as a new
Catholic. You’re gonna be partied-out.) 😊
That’s why Father and I are wearing rose, instead of violet. Rose is the festive color of rejoicing for
the 3rd Sunday of Advent. The
idea is that during the 4 weeks of preparation for Christmas, with all the
watching and preparing and anticipation of Christmas, our hearts just overflow
with rejoicing at what is coming soon. (There’s
excitement in the air.)
In the First Reading today, it is written in the book of the
Prophet Isaiah, “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy
of my soul…” [emphasize w/love]
And then, interestingly, in a very rare moment during Mass, our response
is taken not from the Psalms, but from the Gospel of Luke: “My soul rejoices
in my God.”
This leads us to the first of 2 main reasons for our rejoicing
this Gaudete Sunday: (1) The first reason is the First Coming of Christ. (2) And the second reason is the Second
Coming of Christ.
In the First Coming of Christ 2,000 years ago, these words “My
soul rejoices…” were of our Blessed Mother, Mama Mary, when she visited
Elizabeth while both of them were pregnant.
This is the Canticle or Song or Magnificat of Mary. Mary cannot contain her rejoicing being pregnant with the Savior of the world. Vatican II called the Church an “icon of
Mary,” so we too rejoice in God Our Savior.
[*Correction: Mary is an “icon of the Church” (GS).]
Then, in today’s Gospel, the very same unborn John the Baptizer
who leapt in Elizabeth’s womb for joy is the same John the Baptizer who today
cannot contain his rejoicing. He prepares the way for the Jesus as an
adult. John says with fire in his heart,
“I am the voice of the one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for
the Lord. … There is one who is coming after me who will baptize with the Holy
Spirit.” (The mountains of our pride
will be made low, and our low humble valleys of life lifted up.)
And in the 2nd Reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the
Thessalonians, Paul writes, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks…”
So all the readings – the First Reading, the Response, the Second
Reading, and the Gospel – point us to Gaudete Sunday.
Now, having looked at the reason for our joy, let us enter more
deeply into the mystery of Rejoicing Sunday by comparing Gaudete Sunday with its
opposite: gloomy darkness.
You might say that it’s all fine and good to rejoice, but in my
life right now there is not much reason to rejoice about. You say, “My family is falling apart. Or I’m suffering from illness, or I lost my
job and we can’t pay bills, or my adult kids and grandkids don’t talk to me, or
I’m afraid I can’t handle another pregnancy, or I’m struggling with sin I can’t
break out of, or my spouse of many decades or friend died and I’m sad and lonely
and depressed this holiday. Why should I
rejoice? The message is lost on me.”
But here’s why we should still rejoice during this darkness. Just like your personal darkness, at the
First Coming of Jesus 2,000 years ago, the whole, entire world was also in a
great darkness. It was in sin and
falling apart. All of humanity was in
Satan’s power, and nobody could go to Heaven when they died. But when Jesus – the Santo Niño – was born, he
brought that ray of hope as the Newborn Savior.
So even with all the evil and sadness and loneliness in the world,
Baby Jesus the Emmanuel is going to be born in the world! And this – this – is what brings joy to our
darkness.
And that gives us cause to rejoice! Because the darkness and sin are not forever. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Your darkness has not overcome the Light. And Baby Jesus is the Light of the World.
And it’s not some mediocre happy holidays slogan that gives us
joy. Jesus is the reason for the
season! All the shopping won’t give us
joy without He Who is Joy itself. As the
Knight of Columbus encourage us, “Keep Christ in Christmas!”
And this leads to the second reason for our rejoicing and final
main point. The First Coming of Jesus is
connected with the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of the world OR the end of
our lives. [Omit: Did you notice that
during the 4 weeks of Advent, the priest at the beginning of the Liturgy of the
Eucharist makes this connection of the First Coming of Jesus with the Second
Coming of Jesus in his prayer before the Father?]
Not only does Jesus’ First Coming in the past give us reason to
rejoice. We rejoice as the Bride of
Christ because we look forward in the future to the glorious Second
Coming. After the Our Father at Mass,
the priest also prays, “…as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior,
Jesus Christ…” (And then the people
respond w/“For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever.”)
Here, we await Jesus’ return with blessed hope. We rejoice that the Bridegroom is going to
take us, his Bride, home to Heaven with Him one day, to be happy forever. There will be no more sadness, separation,
and suffering!!!
At the First Coming, Jesus was a defenseless baby, unknown and
obscure, born in a smelly, humiliating place because nobody would give shelter
to a pregnant Jewish woman, in the quiet of the night. And also powerful sinful men wanted to kill this
innocent Baby. (If time allows, mention vision
of St. Faustina of Baby Jesus defending himself.)
At the Second Coming, it will not be so. We rejoice that Jesus will come in power and
glory and honor and all the world will stand before God for Judgement Day. So prepare!
There can be no real celebration without reconciliation to God and
neighbor. Yes, Judgment Day at the
Second Coming of Christ is a terrible day, but for us Christians who love
Jesus, we rejoice when all injustice will be made right you his Elect glorified
and crowned, like the Assumption and Coronation. So we should stand sinless before our Divine
Spouse, without the spot of corrupt teaching or the winkle of sin, just like
the Immaculate Conception. The Church today
cries out in the wilderness like John the Baptist: Make straight the way for
the Lord. Rejoice! Maranatha!
Come Lord Jesus!
Yes, dear brothers and sisters, there “ain’t no party like a
Catolic party.” Our rejoicing
celebration is like no other. Fr. Stan actually
concludes his rap song for Jesus, there “ain’t no party like a Catolic party…
cuz a Catolic party don’t stop.”
Let our party, our rejoicing, our Gaudete Sunday never stop. Rejoice always. Prepare the way for the Baby Messiah in your
hearts. Let us rejoices now in the few
days that remain of Advent, so that we will someday forever rejoice in the life
of the world to come. Amen.
3rd Sunday of Advent
St. Catherine's Church, Vallejo, CA, USA
Dec. 17, 2017
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