Third Sunday of Advent Homily

St. Paul was a gifted man. God had endowed Paul with high intelligence, reason, wisdom, and the ability to heal. There were probably several other gifts that Paul had, but these are just a few. St. Paul was also given the gift of tongues and prophecy. He most likely used these gifts many times in his prayer sessions with people. If people are not familiar with charismatic gifts such as speaking in tongues or prophecy, they may view it as being very strange. It may even appear as if something is wrong with the person. However, there are many spiritual gifts that are beyond our understanding. If God is infinite, then why couldn’t God provide spiritual gifts that are amazing to us and may seem strange.

In our second reading today, St. Paul makes the admonition, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances.” (1 Thes 5:16-24) There were probably some people in Thessalonia that were not familiar with the charismatic gifts that Paul exhibited. They may have even frightened some people, and therefore they wanted to shut them down. “This behavior scares us. Stop doing it. We don’t like it.” But Paul is telling them, “Don’t do this. You may be trying to shut down the Holy Spirit in the process.” If it is the work of the Holy Spirit, then by trying to stop it, you are working against something that God is doing. And we don’t want to work against God, because God’s work is always good, holy, and meant to benefit the person that it is directed to.

However, St. Paul does give a qualification. He wrote, “Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.” St. Paul was telling the people that not every prophecy is valid, not every prophecy may be from God. It’s also correct to say that not every spiritual gift may be from God. How does someone test to see if something is from God? If a spiritual gift is used for the benefit of others and leads to producing good fruit, then it is from God. It should also lead to a sense of peace. If someone is using the spiritual gift that God gave them, then God will also give a sense of peace to confirm that the person has done the right thing. Just the opposite is true if a spiritual gift does not help others. It may cause harm, and it will lead to a lack of peace. In fact, the person will most likely feel darkness or emptiness. St. Paul says, “Retain what is good; reject what is evil.”

We can see this kind of advice being played out in our Gospel reading (Jn 1:6-8, 19-28). John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan River and preaching a message of repentance for sins. Certain people came out from Jerusalem to test John. They had to see if John was legitimate or not. Was John sent from God or not? This is why they asked him so many questions. Basically, who are you? And, why are youdoing what you are doing? John assured them that he was not the Christ, or Elijah, or the Prophet. They wanted to know why he was baptizing if he was not the Christ, or Elijah, or the Prophet. John told them that, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” John told them that he was fulfilling one of the prophesies of Isaiah.

“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’” as Isaiah the prophet said.”

John 1: 8

So, to follow St. Paul’s advice on testing whether John was from God or not, the people from Jerusalem would have to examine why John was baptizing people. Was it for personal profit? Or was John doing this only for the benefit of others? What kind of fruit was his actions producing? If they did a good examination, then they should have concluded that John was producing good fruit that benefited others. Many people repented of their sins, changed their lives, and turned to God. According to St. Paul, if this is what was happening then they shouldn’t despise John and what he was doing. In other words, don’t quench the Holy Spirit that was working through John. Leave him alone and let him continue with what he was doing.

John was preparing people to receive the Lord when he came. As John stated, Jesus was in their midst, but they didn’t recognize Him. If they didn’t recognize Jesus, then it is highly likely that they were quenching the Spirit. By quenching the Spirit, they would be preventing the Spirit from opening their spiritual eyes to see the truth. Their spiritual eyes would be blinded from recognizing Jesus as the One coming after John. The One who was mightier than John.

During Advent, we are asked to spend more time in prayer and prepare the way of the Lord into our hearts. If we do this properly, we will not be quenching the Spirit. Our hearts will be more open to receive whatever gifts the Holy Spirit would like to give us. One thing that we do not want to do is to be so busy that we don’t make time for prayer. By not praying, our hearts and minds can get so filled up with many other things that we actually can stifle the Spirit trying to work within us. The message of John the Baptist “Make straight the way of the Lord” will fall on deaf ears. And we will miss the true gifts that God would like to give us at this time of the year. Make straight the way of the Lord. The Mighty One is coming, be prepared to receive Him; and allow Him to fill your hearts with His presence and the gifts that He wants to give you at this Christmas time.

Fr. Tim Ilgen