THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Third Sunday of Advent 11 December 2011

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

The third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday” not only from the first word of the Introit of the Mass for that day, but more so for the sentiments expressed. Even the external symbols of rejoicing replace the somber colors of penance. The vestments are rose-colored instead of purple.

Purple is not a color of mourning; it is a color of penance. Purple became the color symbol of royalty because it was the king who also had to bear the martyrdom of his office and because noblesse oblige it was the king who gave an example of penance. Holiness was becoming to these high offices more than to anyone else.

For this reason, then, Holy Mother Church wishes to express that genuine supernatural joy that should be the fruit of penance by going from purple to rose. But, the joy that comes from a pure conscience is soon replaced by the seriousness of penance. The brief moment of joy is the consolation that encourages us to continue onward in a life of faith.

St.Paul says to the faithful Christian: “Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always: again, I say, rejoice.” St. Paul urges us to rejoice always. Not just for a brief moment, but always. And this joy is to be found “in the Lord.” The mind and heart of man cannot find genuine joy in anything of this world. Even the good things of this world pass away. Since joy is the testimony of a good conscience, only those can know true joy who are close to our Lord. The man of sin is as far from the Lord as he is immersed in his sins.

The modesty of the Christian should be obvious to all men. The true Christian lives in this world in such a way that his presence alone speaks of virtuous modesty. The entire life of the Christian should be dressed in modesty. St. Ambrose says: “The body should be bedecked naturally and without affectation, with simplicity, with negligence rather than nicety, not with costly and dazzling apparel, but with ordinary clothes, so that nothing be lacking to honesty and necessity, yet nothing be added to increase its beauty.” From this we see that there can be virtue and vice in the way people dress. Certainly, outward things themselves do not constitute the virtue or the vice. This is on the part of the person using these things immoderately. Lack of moderation may take one of two forms. In the first place, one must consider the customs of the people among whom one lives. There is an old saying: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

On this point, St. Augustine says: “Those offences which are contrary to the customs of men, are to be avoided according to the customs generally prevailing, so that a thing agreed upon and confirmed by custom or law of any city or nation may not be violated at the lawless pleasure of any, whether citizen or foreigner. For any part, which does not harmonize with the whole, is offensive.” (Confessions 3, 8). In the second place, St. Augustine again says regarding inordinate attachment to the things that are used thereby either taking too much pleasure in them according to the custom of those among whom one dwells or contrary to that custom: “We must avoid excessive pleasure in the use of things, for it leads not only wickedly to abuse the customs of those among whom we dwell, but frequently to exceed their bounds, so that, whereas it lay hidden, while under the restraint of established morality, it displays its deformity in a most lawless outbreak.” (On Christian Doctrine, 3,12).

Those who give excessive attention to the way they dress may be classified in two groups: Those who are overly fastidious and those who go to the opposite extreme. Clothes are the ornament of the body. Some dress with such excessive concern and some dress with no concern. Both offend against Christian modesty.

Concerning the first, St. Gregory says: “There are some who think that attention to finery and costly dress is no sin. Surely, if this were no fault, the word of God would not say so expressly that the rich man who was tortured in hell had been clothed in purple and fine linen. No one, forsooth, seeks costly apparel (such, namely, as exceeds one’s estate) save for vainglory.” And as if foreseeing our present anticultural society, St.Augustine, says: “not only the glare and pomp of outward things, but even dirt and the weeds of mourning may be a subject of ostentation, all the more dangerous as being a decoy under the guise of God’s service.”

Both excess and inordinate defect are a subject of ostentation and therefore, sinful. Above all, it would seem that Christians ought to resist what Pope Pius XII called “the tyranny of fashion.”