As I was trying to come up with something for this column I was looking for something to do with the third week in Advent. I thought about the pink candle. I thought about Gaudate Sunday (Rejoice). Nothing struck me until I came upon the second reading in the Office of Readings for the Third Sunday in Advent. I really like it and hope you will, also. In a way, it is what I often feel when I deliver a homily. Here is an edited version of it:
From a sermon by Saint Augustine
John is a voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives forever.
Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice? Where there is not understanding, there is only a meaningless sound. The voice without the word strikes the ear but does not build up the heart.
However, let us observe what happens when we first seek to build up our hearts. When I think about what I am going to say, the word or message is already in my heart. When I want to speak to you, I look for a way to share with your heart what is already in mine.
In my search for a way to let this message reach you, so that the word already in my heart may find place also in yours, I use my voice to speak to you. The sound of my voice brings the meaning of the word to you and then passes away. The word which the sound has brought to you is now in your heart, and yet it is still also in mine.
When the word has been conveyed to you, does not the sound seem to say: The word ought to grow, and I should diminish? The sound of the voice has made itself heard in the service of the word, and has gone away, as though it were saying: My joy is complete. Let us hold on to the word; we must not lose the word conceived inwardly in our hearts.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness is the voice of one breaking the silence. Prepare the way for the Lord, he says, as though he were saying: “I speak out in order to lead them into your hearts, but he does not choose to come where I lead him unless you prepare the way for him.”
To prepare the way means to pray well; it means thinking humbly of oneself. We should take our lesson from John the Baptist. He understood that he was a lamp, and his fear was that it might be blown out by the wind of pride.
As we continue on this journey of Advent, let us not be afraid to break the silence and cry out in the wilderness. Let us make sure our hearts are prepared to hear The Word and let it rest in our hearts until in its restlessness it breaks free to cry out to others so they can feel the Word in their hearts.