Dominica III Adventus: "While he humbly strove to confess his own weakness, he earned by his simplicity a part in the grandeur of his Master."

From the Holy Gospel according to John
John 1:19-28
In that time were sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to John, to ask him: Who art thou? And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory (the Great)
7th on the Gospels
Dearly beloved brethren, the first thing which striketh us in today's Gospel is the lowly-mindedness of John. He was so great that it was thought he might be the Christ; yet he soberly chose rather to seem only what he really was, than to let the belief of men invest him with a dignity which did not belong to him; for he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ, at the same time he would not deny what he was in reality; and thus his very truth-speaking made him a member of Him Whose title he would not by falsehood take. In that he arrogated not to himself the name of Christ, he became a member of Christ. While he humbly strove to confess his own weakness, he earned by his simplicity a part in the grandeur of his Master.

(Homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great)

Dominica II Adventus: "Art thou he that art to come?"

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 11:2-10
In that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ: sending two of his disciples he said to him: Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great.
6th Homily on the Gospels
The sight of so many signs and so many mighty works should have been a source of wonder, and not a stumbling-block. And yet the unfaithful Jer. xxxi. 5. found these very works a rock of offence, when they afterwards saw Him Who had worked so many miracles dying on the Cross. Hence Paul saith: "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Gentiles foolishness." 1 Cor. i. 23. It is indeed folly in the eyes of men to say that the Author of life died for men and thus men put as a stumbling-block to hinder them from coming to Jesus, the very thing that doth oblige them the most unto Him. For the more humbling God hath undergone for man's sake, the more worthy is He that man should worship Him.

Dominica I Adventus: "if we will not fear God in our prosperity, we may at least be scourged into fearing His judgment when it is at hand"

Reading 3
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 21:25-33
In that time, Jesus said to his disciples: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations. And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Gregory the Great,
1st on the Gospels.
Our Lord and Saviour wisheth to find us ready at His second coming. Therefore He telleth us what will be the evils of the world as it groweth old, that He may wean our hearts from worldly affections. Here we read what great convulsions will go before the end, that, if we will not fear God in our prosperity, we may at least be scourged into fearing His judgment when it is at hand.


Homily by Father Kevin M. Cusick

What is this "scourging" of which he speaks?

Scourges are suffering, another’s if not our own. Suffering can be accepted with merit as a sign of the detachment necessary even from this life and all that is a part of it if we are to be saved, share forever in the eternal life of God.

In the Holy Eucharist the Judge Himself becomes Savior through His own suffering, scourging and death, to prepare us for the life He promises and which awaits us.