“Rejoice always!” A homily for Gaudete Sunday

I’m on the road this weekend and won’t be preaching about this Sunday’s readings. But from the vault, here’s part of my homily for Guadete Sunday from 2008: 

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This Advent many of us are waiting with an expectation and an anxiety that we have not known for a long time. And right about now, rejoicing doesn’t come easily.

But Paul tells us in the second reading, very simply:

“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks.”

In all circumstances.

Even these.

…The Los Angeles Times reported on a parish that had gone through some very hard times.

It ‘s the poorest parish in southern California – in fact, one of the poorest in the entire state: Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mecca, California. Two years ago, the average income in Mecca was just $6,000. 60% of the people live below the poverty line.

The congregation is made up largely of Latino farm workers who live in trailer parks.

They own almost nothing.

But they do have something beyond price.

They have faith.

They pray passionately to Our Lady. You will see them enter church and get down on their knees and – on their knees – crawl toward the altar to bring their petitions to God. The church is their guardian, and their hope.

But a couple of years ago, the old church where they worshipped was beginning to fall apart. For a while, they went to mass in a huge tent, but people were collapsing in 120-degree heat. They needed a new church, desperately. So the pastor, Fr. Lucas, launched an ambitious fundraising campaign – trusting and praying that somehow the money would eventually arrive. He traveled to other parishes, and stories about his struggling church appeared on the Internet and were carried around the country.

The faithful responded.

People in Mecca began giving him crumpled envelopes – some with just a dollar or two. One woman arrived at church with a bag of dates. “Fr. Lucas,” she said, “I have no money. Sell these dates and use the money to build a church.” And he took them, gratefully.

Families in the trailer parks began giving whatever they could spare – five, ten, twenty dollars. The fund grew. A reporter asked one woman why they sacrificed so much. She put it so beautifully. “If you give away more,” she explained, “you receive more back.”

Those who couldn’t work donated time. They sold tacos, ran garage sales and hosted fiestas to raise money.