I was at the hospital a couple of weeks ago, and I walked into this guy’s room, who was Catholic, but he was not from here. And when I walked in, I noticed that he had on a Jeff Gordon, #24 hat. And I thought to myself, “Hummm…No Sacraments for you!” And then I noticed that, in the hospital, he had his Jeff Gordon coffee mug, and his Jeff Gordon jacket was hanging on the door, and he had on this necklace thing, with a little gold number “24” hanging around his neck. And then I thought to myself, “I really don’t like this guy.” But his wife was there with him, and after I expressed amazement that he had brought all of this stuff to the hospital with him, she told me about the room that this guy had devoted to Jeff Gordon at their house. She said that he had ALL the memorabilia. Now, I’m a Dale Jarrett fan. You know that. And I know that some of you are Peyton Manning fans, and some of you are Tiger Woods fans, and some of you are Lance Armstrong fans. Some of you are Notre Dame fans. Fr. Dale is a soccer fan. But if somebody held a gun to my head, I couldn’t name one, current professional soccer player. For as much as all of us admire people in sports, or music, or the movies, or business, or politics, the question that this Gospel is asking us today, is WHO do we give witness to? For all practical purposes, when I walked into that hospital room, it sure looked like that guy was bearing witness to Jeff Gordon. Now, there’s a difference between being a fan of some race car driver, and following some one as the role model for your life. I think, or at least I hope, that the Catholic guy I visited in the hospital knew that. But does everybody know that? I’m not sure. Who we bear witness to, on the outside matters, but who we bear witness to on the inside matters EVEN MORE!

Today, we hear a little bit more about John the Baptist. And in today’s Gospel from St. John, it is made very clear that John the Baptist was bearing witness to Jesus. He was pointing the way. He was the messenger and NOT the Messiah. This was very important for St. John’s Gospel to do this, because by the time that John is writing, there are those who are claiming that the John the Baptist was the Messiah. Very clearly this was not the case. John the Baptist was the messenger that Isaiah talked about. He is bearing witness to Jesus. Now, John the Baptist doesn’t have a Jesus Christ, #1 , hat on. He doesn’t have a Jesus coffee mug, or jacket, or even a little Jesus on the cross around his neck. John the Baptist didn’t even have a Christian bumpersticker on his car. And yet, John the Baptist did bear witness to Jesus with everything that he had, with every ounce of his being. He did it through his thoughts, words, and actions. John the Baptist was Christian to the core, even before Jesus was born. John the Baptist lived out his Faith. He lived simply. He didn’t put on airs or try and impress people. He was a man of deep prayer. He was a man who was enthusiastically driven, pointing the way to Jesus. And we know that his witness worked: many were prepared for Jesus’ own ministry, because they had already begun their conversions under John the Baptist.

Today, on this Gaudete Sunday, as we rejoice together as Church, God is asking us, “Who Are We Bearing Witness to with Our Lives?” Do we do a better job of bearing witness to Jeff Gordon, or Payton Manning, or Donald Trump than what we do for Jesus? Our witness to Jesus Christ is important. Today, for us to prepare the way of the Lord, just as John the Baptist did, WE need to be bearing witness to Jesus with our whole lives. And we need to do it with passion, with enthusiasm, with rejoicing! Isn’t it strange that we can get more excited about football, or racing, or a movie, or going out to eat, than what we do for our Faith? Guys, this is what is going to last. Our Faith is what is going to get us to eternal life - not golf, not football, not money. Gaudete Sunday reminds us that as Catholic Christians we need to be enthusiastically living out our Faith. We shouldn’t just rejoice one Sunday out of the year when we make our priests wear pink. We should be rejoicing every minute of every day, because our God HAS saved us and made us His people, the Church. How many times have you been to Mass when it looks like everybody is rejoicing? Sometimes Mass looks more like people are sleeping. This Sunday of Advent invites us to enter into a new, enthusiastic Spirit, and to really live out our Faith. John the Baptist was not “just” going through the motions out there in the desert. And neither can we be going through the motions, as we enter into these last two weeks of Advent. It is time to rejoice. It is time to start our preparations.

Christmas is coming. Jesus is coming again. We have been so blessed! We have much to rejoice and be excited about today.

If we can get so excited about earthly things like sports, and entertainment, and money, how much more excited should we be about the things that are going to last forever. Let us rejoice! Let us wear pink!

May God bless us on this Third Sunday of Advent… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti … Pray for us !!!