3rd SUNDAY IN ADVENT
Ronnie Rafferty OP
In a recent table conversation, someone commented that the prevalent malaise suffered by people all over the world is anxiety. The safe future of the planet and the safe future of humanity seem to be at stake and are really in danger. My dinner companion went on to say that trust in God was for him the answer to worrying. I think there are other answers for us in the liturgical texts for this third Sunday of Advent.
Certainly, St Paul is delivering an antidote to that anxiety in the text we have as the second reading in Mass today. “I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord!… There is no need to worry:
if there is anything you need, pray for it”. In other words, trust God and do something concrete about it, like praying for help.
Zephaniah invites us also “to have no fear… Yahweh your God is in your midst…He will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love; he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival”. It is so encouraging to hear these words, to savour them, when all around we get news of evil, blindness, war and tragically no way towards reaching peace.
John the Baptist points the way towards sustaining hope as he orients those who ask him “What should we do?” To each one according to his or her profession or state in life, he suggests concrete actions. Sharing a tunic, sharing food, being honest in dealings about money.
Greta Thunberg, our climate apostle and one of today’s prophets, states that hope comes through taking some action. Her conclusions about COP29 are not exactly hopeful but still she urges us “as a global collective to take the action we so desperately need and show where the leadership truly lies. They are not going to do it for us.”
As a Dominican Congregation we are trying to back these efforts by promoting a new type of economic thinking known as Doughnut Economics, a well thought out circular economic model. How far we can get is not the point, but we are shedding light on the horrific system in existence where as Greta writes after COP29: “It is clear that our current systems are not working on our favour. The COP processes aren’t just failing us, they are part of a larger system built on injustice and designed to sacrifice current and future generations for the opportunity of a few to keep making unimaginable profits and continue to exploit planet and people”. How John the Baptist would agree with her and back her every word!