GAUDETE SUNDAY
The third Sunday of Advent is commonly referred to as Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is Latin for the first word in our introductory antiphon for this Mass, which is the word
Rejoice. In the first two Sundays of Advent, we heard the line “Come Lord Jesus”; this Sunday, we hear the words “Rejoice in the Lord always”. It highlights the fact that as we started our advent preparation two Sundays ago, conscious of the need to really ascertain that Christ must be born anew in our lives, we do so with great rejoicing because it is only in God that we find the deepest and profoundest meaning of who we are and what we shall be. We also rejoice this Sunday because we are already half way through our advent preparation, marked with interior reflection and conversion so that when Christmas comes our hearts and our whole being can be the new stables for Christ.
Gaudete Sunday elevates the somber advent atmosphere into a more joyful expectation for the birth of Christ. But what is joy? How is it different from happiness? Happiness is what we feel when everything is going well and smooth. Happiness is more dependent on our outward situations – our health, fortune, work, etc. But joy is being at peace with whatever situation we may face, whether it is a happy or sad situation. It is that assurance that though everything does not always go right, life still makes sense. It is not dependent on outward circumstances, but rather on our own relationship with God. Another way we might put it is that we have happiness BECAUSE of our situation; we have joy IN SPITE OF our situation. A person who might be suffering from a chronic illness may understandably not feel happy, but he/ she can still remain joyful because of the love and care of those people around him/her or because of his/her faith and trust in God. A well-known theologian by the name of Teilhard de Chardin defines joy as the most profound manifestation of the presence of God.
Advent is not just looking back to the birth of Christ more than two thousand years ago, but rather it is a period of spiritual reflection on how that first birth of Christ has impacted our own lives today. Why do we have to pause for more than a month or for four Sundays to reflect on something that already happened two thousand years ago? Why? It is because there is always the need to be conscious of what the birth of Christ and his
coming as one like us really means for us every single day. And this consciousness on our part of this great reality must not just be reflected by simply having a mental or external assent to what God has shown for us by sending his Son, but must be manifested with clarity and boldness by the way we lead our lives and practice our faith. We may have been celebrating years after years of advent – but if the true spirit of Advent does not transform us to be better persons – does not make husbands love their wives all the more and vice versa, and does not make children value what their parents have sacrificed for them, and if it does not bring us forgiveness and healing to our hurts and pains or even consider forgiveness as an option to improve our relationships– then there is no point to rejoice this Sunday because if it is still business as usual for us then the liturgical seasons are nothing but empty cycles without any meaning. Doctrines and faith only become significant when they touch and affect the way we live our lives and relate with one another.
In the Gospel today, John the Baptist was being asked who he was, if he was Elijah or even Christ, the Messiah. But in another version of this gospel it was John the Baptist who asked Jesus this question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Have you come to a certain point in your life when you found yourself questioning if there was really a sense to everything that we do here in the Church? Have you ever asked yourself or God if this faith that we profess is the real thing or not, or should we look for another? Well, I did. I had my doubts too when I was trying to understand my faith. When horrible things happen in our lives or when unexpected and unexplainable things happen without any reason like sudden death, illness or
tragic accidents, people can understandably question where God’s love fits in all of these. And like John the Baptist, when I question God if he is indeed for real or not, I always find an answer in the wonderful and great things that he has done in my life in the midst of my weaknesses and sinfulness. And this is where we find the reason to rejoice in God always: that in the midst of our brokenness and sometimes feeling unworthy, God does not abandon us - in fact, he raises us up in order for us to redeem our identity and transform us anew. And because God is our Emmanuel (the God Who Is Always In Our Midst), we always have the best reason to
rejoice! Happy Gaudete Sunday! – Fr. Cary