This week's readings Sunday, Dec. 16 Reading I: Is 35:1-6a, 10 Reading II: Jas 5:7-10 Gospel: Mt 11:2-11 Monday, Dec. 17, 2001 Reading I: Gn 49, 2. 8-10 Gospel: Mt 1, 1-17 Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2001 Reading I: Jer 23, 5-8 Gospel: Mt 1, 18-24 Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2001 Reading I: Jgs 13, 2-7. 24-25 Gospel: Lk 1, 5-25 Thursday, Dec. 20, 2001 Reading I: Is 7, 10-14 Gospel: Lk 1, 26-38 Friday, Dec. 21, 2001 Reading I: Sg 2, 8-14 Gospel: Lk 1, 39-45 Saturday, Dec. 22, 2001 Reading I: 1 Sm 1, 24-28 Gospel: Lk 1, 46-56 Pope's Prayer Intentions December General Intention Escape from cultural conditioning that blinds us to the rights of others. That we Christians may escape the subtle cultural conditioning which stifles recognition of the dignity and rights of others. December Mission Intention Illumination of the cultures of Asia by Christian humanism with its Gospel values. That Christian humanism may illumine, through Gospel values, the cultures of Asia.

Sing God's praise:

Become voice for the voiceless

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

In his spiritual exercises The Way to Christ, Karol Wojtyla (now Pope John Paul II) wrote of the "human 'we.' We shall speak of Christ as witness of this human community. It was he who spoke the greatest commandment in the history of mankind: the commandment of love.

"It could be fully guaranteed only by his lips. And it was with this commandment of love that Christ became the witness of the human community, because love has the function of uniting . . . (love) unites people with one another, giving form to the human community."

Being members of the human community called together by Christ to worship the Father and become filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the Church is a cause for rejoicing! We who are united by God's love and our love for one another rejoice in the unity Christ has given us.

Readings for Third Sunday of Advent (Dec. 16) Isaiah 35:1-6a 10 Psalm 146 James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11

The rejoicing we are called to do on this "Gaudete -- Rejoice" Sunday, the Third of Advent, is this same rejoicing in the unity of the human family with Christ as our witness and head. Our joyful praise is amply reflected in the poetry of the Prophet Isaiah, quoted by Jesus in the Gospel.

"Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing."

All of creation shares in the rejoicing which God brings to the world he has created. "The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom . . . with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song."

What causes all this? "The glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God." We who look on the face of Jesus see there the perfect image of God the Father, who sent his Son in the likeness of human flesh to unite us to one another and to God. The commandment of love which Jesus gave and about which the Pope teaches unites us as one people, a people which belongs to God.

"Our eyes blinded to the needs of others must be opened, our ears filled with the cry of the poor. Our hands and hearts must burst out of their crippling bonds to serve those in need, and our tongues must sing God's praise even as we become voice for the voiceless."

Yet we recognize that many people in the world today do not, indeed it seems they can not, rejoice. Poverty, violence, war, prejudice, lack of education and employment, racism, hatred -- these and other realities of the world brought about by human sin prevent the joy which Jesus has planted from taking root in many places.

As his Church, we have a responsibility to spread the Good News, the Gospel of Rejoicing. The human community is a "human 'we'," and so long as any of us suffers the whole community suffers with them. Suffering due to human sin keeps us in the desert: dry, dusty, lifeless.

What can we do? The love which Jesus intends to unite us must flower and bloom among us. Our eyes blinded to the needs of others must be opened, our ears filled with the cry of the poor. Our hands and hearts must burst out of their crippling bonds to serve those in need, and our tongues must sing God's praise even as we become voice for the voiceless.

"Make your hearts firm," writes Saint Paul, "because the coming of the Lord is at hand." We who strive to prepare ourselves for the Kingdom of Jesus must also become witnesses to the human community of the commandment of love.

It is not too late. "The Judge is standing before the gates." Let us proclaim the Good News to the poor. Let us not look for another, for Jesus is the One, and the way to Christ is the way to the reign of God for all.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.