This third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is a Latin verb which translates “rejoice”: rejoice because the Christ child, Jesus, the joy of our salvation, is about to be born. And that’s why this chasuble is rose: rose symbolizes joy!
We have so much to be thankful for this holy season: family, friends and faith. Many people lack what we take for granted. As we anticipate the birth of the Christ child, we give thanks to God for our many blessings.
Here are a few lines from a poem about gratitude that a friend emailed:
With feet to take me where I’d go …
with eyes to see the sunset’s glow …
With ears to hear what I need to know…
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I’ve been blessed indeed. The world is mine.
Yes, this season is indeed a time to rejoice, a time to count our blessings and share them with others, especially the needy.
Now Christmas carols can be heard all around. Whenever you hear this melody, remember there’s a story behind it.
Catholics in Protestant England could not practice their faith openly for more than two centuries. So someone wrote The Twelve Days of Christmas as a statement about belief. The carol has two levels of meaning: one, secular; the other, religious. See whether you can guess what the numbers symbolize in our Catholic belief statement; here’s a hint:
A Partridge in a pear tree is…Jesus Christ.
The two turtle doves are the New and Old Testaments.
Three French hens stand for faith, hope and love.
Four calling birds are the four Gospels.
Test your own knowledge, or better, play a game with your children/grandchildren to see whether they can guess what the other numbers in the carol symbolize.
The word of God from Isaiah takes us back probably to the sixth century before Jesus (the 500s). Jerusalem had experienced immense destruction. Yet the author speaks about new beginnings: the desert will bloom; the wilderness will burst with life. The messiah will come.
The author of Isaiah may be asking us: what message do we proclaim to others in our attitudes and behaviors? Hope in a God-centered future? After all, the medium is the message; each of us is called to embody the Good News, Jesus Christ gloriously alive; and because He lives, we live. In death, there’s life, God’s life.
James in his letter urges us to practice patience like the farmer who plants and works with nature to bring forth a harvest of produce. Patience! Even better, perseverance!
History abounds with people who say, “it can’t be done.” Luckily, we have other people who say, “it can be done.” Success often comes to those who persevere, who say, “I can make it happen.”
I recall from art history a story about a medieval sculptor who worked on a large piece of marble and lamented, “I can't do anything with it.” But another sculptor, Michelangelo, saw the same stone and imagined infinite possibilities with it. His “I-can-make-it-happen” attitude resulted in one of the great masterpieces: the statue of David, displayed in the Galleria Accademia in Florence, Italy. The point is: a “positive can-do” attitude will do wonders for others and for us.
In the Gospel, John the Baptizer announces that he is the voice in the wilderness who prepares the way for the messiah. John cried out to the people who came to the waters of the Jordan, “repent,” live an other-centered, God-centered life. And when Jesus walked along the banks of the Jordan, John pointed to Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God, through whose bloody death/glorious resurrection we have a right relationship with God.
John was the forerunner of Jesus, the one who prepared the way for Jesus, the bridge between two covenants that created that special relationship between God and us: that of the Hebrews and that of Jesus Christ.
John wasn’t into fashion and gourmet food – he lived a rugged, ascetic life-style. His message was simple. He proclaimed what the prophet Micah begged the Hebrews to do centuries before: do what is right, love goodness, walk humbly with God. “Repent,” John cried out; “orient your life to God’s covenant.”
John pointed to Jesus as the Light, the Lord, the One to whom we pledge our ultimate allegiance, the “Passover” or sacrificial Lamb through whose blood we have God’s friendship again, God’s eternal life.
John was indeed the herald of Jesus; and for the courage to speak the truth to King Herod, John was executed.
The Gospel sums up John’s mission in the song of Zechariah, John’s father: “for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.”
John challenges us to be heralds of Jesus, evangelizers, missionary disciples, in our families, our workplaces and in our communities by the manner in which we live. Do we strive to be people of integrity, true to that inner voice, our conscience, trying to do the right thing in all decisions, great and small.
We are called to prepare the way of the Lord so that Jesus Christ, gloriously alive, can enter into our “hearts” and the “hearts” of our fellow human beings; and empower all of us to “do what is right, love goodness and walk humbly with our God.”
Now there’s no better place to begin preparing “the Lord’s way” than in our own families. How?
Try to create a better sense of togetherness, of closeness and care for one another, especially during this holy season.
Stay in touch, even if it’s only by phone or email or skype; be hospitable, concerned about elderly relatives and neighbors who may be alone. Participate together, if we can, in Sunday liturgies.
Communicate; spend time with one another; share the good news as well as bad; keep your word and thereby build up trust with one another.
Yes, like John the Baptizer, we are called to prepare for the Lord by trying, as best we can, to be men and women of integrity, by striving to be true to that inner voice, our conscience, which seeks to do right thing in all decisions, great and small. This holy season is an opportunity to start afresh by not only creating an even better sense of togetherness in our families, but by cherishing one another more deeply for who they are.
