By Father Rich Tomkosky
This Third Week of Advent is a time of rejoicing because we are anticipating the coming of Christ to save us from our sins. We should be filled with the supernatural virtue of hope, which as the Catechism says, “is the theological virtue which brings into our heart and mind a spirit of anticipation of the Divine Blessing upon our life, the fruit of which is rejoicing in the Lord.”
Are we a people of hope or do we allow ourselves to be consumed by bitterness, by anger, by gloominess and complaining? Yes, there are problems – sometimes big – in the world, in our families, at work, in our personal life but God can bring us through all of those challenges and obstacles if we let Him work, if we turn to Him in a spirit of prayer and trust.
We must always give thanks to the Lord both in joy and in suffering, in success and failure, because all these things are ordained or permitted by God for the purification of our souls and our salvation.
We also need an abundance of the virtue of patience to grow in the likeness of Christ, as in the virtue of hope and rejoicing in Him, always, in both good times and in bad. Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
Almost everyone I encounter as a priest in the context of counseling, or spiritual direction, or confession will tell me at some point they are lacking in the grace of patience. So obviously this is a good virtue to ask the Lord to help us grow in.
As Sint James says, “like the farmer waiting for the fruit of the earth, you too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.” The saints tell us the foundation for growing in holiness, along with the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love, is humility and patience. Also St. James gives some good advice tied into the virtue of patience which is resisting the natural tendency to complain about one another.
Did you ever take notice that when we complain about someone it never really makes us feel better? Or maybe for a little bit, but not long term. The spiritual solution, when we are tempted to complain about others, is to catch ourselves and say a prayer for the person we are tempted to complain about.
Obviously, practice makes perfect in that regard, but if we try to do that on a daily basis, we will see a big improvement over time and will have more inner peace; and we will hopefully look more for the good in others rather than their defects of character which we all have in different ways.
Saint James reminds us as a way of putting things in spiritual perspective, “Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” Saint John the Baptist is a great example in that regard.
Finally, as rejoice in this Third Week of Advent, do we realize that we are now living in the “new era of grace?” Jesus has come among us, has shown us the way back to the Father, and won for us the grace of salvation, of redemption, by His dying on the Cross and rising from the dead for the sake of the human race.
As Jesus says to the crowds concerning Saint John the Baptist, “he is the greatest man born of woman up to that point on a natural level, but the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.” The meaning of this is: we are now living in a new era of grace and if we are baptized in Christ, we have God’s life in our souls and that is greater than any natural gift.
Saint John the Baptist closed out the old era of waiting upon the Messiah – he was the final prophet of the Old Testament – even though we hear about him in the Gospels. Now that the Messiah has come to earth, we can enter into the fullness of life in Christ with a personal relationship with Him through the Sacraments of the Church, daily union with Him through prayer, and the mystery of our own cross untied to Him: in patience, humility, self-abandonment and love and by living in a spirit of gratitude and rejoicing for our many blessings.
If you haven’t already, plan on going to Confession so you can be forgiven in a spirit of peace and joy with God and neighbor and give Jesus our greatest gift: our heart and life focused on Him in a deeper way, with the firm resolution to live always in union with our Savior Jesus, so He can lead us into deeper union with Our Heavenly Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit. God bless you.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and the Pastor of Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.
