Gaudete Sunday / 3rd Sunday of Advent - 17 December

 

 

 

 

Gaudete is a Latin word that means “You shall rejoice!” This name is taken from the entrance antiphon for Sunday’s Mass. It is a reminder that the Advent season is a season of Joy because our salvation is already at hand.

 

 

A reflection on today's Gospel by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:

 

"John was living in solitude in the desert, clothed in camel’s hair with a leather girdle about his loins. His food consisted of locusts and wild honey. His costume was probably meant to resemble that of Elijah, in whose spirit John was to go before Christ. Since he preached mortification, he practiced it also. If he was to prepare for Christ, he must also evoke a penitent consciousness of sin. John was a severe ascetic, moved by a deep conviction of sin in the world. The heart of his message to soldiers, public officials, farmers, and anyone else who would listen was ‘Repent.’ The first note of warning in the New Testament tells all men to change. The Sadducees must lay aside their worldliness, the Pharisees their hypocrisy and self-righteousness; all who come to Christ must repent.

 

"Many centuries before, Isaiah had foretold that the Messiah would be preceded by a messenger: ‘There is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, Straighten out His paths.’ Now, after centuries had whirled away into space, there appeared in the wilderness this great man leading the same kind of life as Elijah.

 

"In all countries, when the head of a government wishes to visit another government, he sends messengers ‘before his face.’ So, John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of Christ, to announce the conditions of His reign and government. John, despite the prophecies that were made about him, disclaimed that he was the Messiah, and said that he was only: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness.’

 

"Even before he met the Messiah, Who was his own cousin, he announced the superiority of Christ: ‘One is to come after me Who is mightier than I, and I am not worthy to bend down and untie the strap of His sandals.’ John considered himself unworthy to untie the shoes of Our Lord, but Our Lord would surpass him in humility as He would wash the feet of the Apostles. The greatness of John consisted in the fact that to him was given the privilege of running before the chariot of the King and saying, ‘Christ has come.’

 

"John used symbols as well as words. The chief symbol of the washing away of sin was a cleansing by water. John had been baptising in the Jordan, as a token of repentance, but he knew that his baptism did not regenerate or quicken the dead soul. That is why he made a contrast between his baptism and the baptism that later on Christ Himself would confer; speaking of the latter, he said: ‘He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.’"

 

(Life of Christ)

 

 

 

O Lord, incline Your merciful ears to our prayers and enlighten the darkness of our hearts by the light of Your visitation. Almighty God, fulfill our desire and kindle our hearts by Your Spirit, that being filled with the oil of Your grace, we may shine as bright lights at the coming of Your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

In these words Jesus acknowledged the great humility of His blessed mother. Throughout her entire life, the Virgin Mary sought only to do the will of God, placing herself always under His authority. Her very words at the Annunciation were, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.’ Again, at the Wedding Feast at Cana, her instructions to the servants (and to us) inform us what our response should be to God, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ As we approach the important day of Christmas let us look to our Blessed Mother Mary and seek to mirror her humility and obedience.