Homily for Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Advent

Although Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, it took about 300 years after His birth before the Church formally recognized this celebration.

Christmas and Advent are the newest additions to our liturgical calendar. While the early Church celebrated the Lord’s Resurrection from its very beginnings, the first recorded celebration of the Lord’s birth dates back to between 274 and 336 AD. The Romans held an annual festival called Sol Invictus, or the "Birthday of the Invincible Sun," which was observed on what was then the shortest day of the year, December 25th. This day marked the first day of increasing daylight as the sun began to rise higher in the sky.

As Christianity expanded throughout the Roman Empire, the Church adopted the celebration of the “Birthday of the Invincible Sun” to honor the dawning of the Son of God. Over the centuries, the liturgical season of Advent emerged as a time for prayer and preparation for Christmas.

In today’s Gospel, Matthew presents a genealogy of Jesus’ ancestors. Both Matthew’s account of Jesus’ lineage and the early Church’s choice of the timing for this celebration reflect our belief that Jesus fulfills the vision God had for the world from the very beginning of creation—a world characterized by justice and peace. Jesus enters our world as a “new” sun, illuminating it once more with the peace and justice of God.