Gaudete Sunday - 3rd
Sunday of Advent Yr A
Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Indeed the Lord is near.
We
begin mass today with St Paul's exhortation to rejoice – and indeed
this Sunday is traditionally designated “Gaudete Sunday” -
a Sunday for rejoicing in the midst of the season of Advent, which is
traditionally a somewhat penitential season. As Laetare Sunday
(or Mothering Sunday) is to Lent, so Gaudete Sunday is to
Advent. And on our Advent wreaths we light a rose coloured candle,
and the priest's vestments can also be rose in colour. Rejoicing is
what today is all about!
But
why? What do we have to rejoice about? St Paul was exhorting the
Philippian Christians to be patient and forbearing in all their
troubles, knowing that the Lord was near.
The
nearness of the Lord is the nearness of deliverance – the nearness
of our salvation. For Christ is in Himself “salvation”. And thus
our hearts are gladdened as we contemplate such a great and mighty
wonder.
As
the prophet Isaiah put it, let the wilderness exult, and the
wasteland rejoice and bloom! Without Christ there is indeed only
wilderness and wasteland. Within us, without Christ there is indeed
wilderness and wasteland. With Christ there is blooming fertility –
abundant life.
We,
as Catholics, have a rich feast because of our faith; for we can look
back to our Lord's first coming, we can look forward to being united
to Him in His second coming; but also, as Catholics, we can also know
Him in a very special way: His close and intimate presence in the
Sacrament of the Altar. Every time the priest says “This is my
body”, Christ draws near, truly present even though the accident
(outward appearance) remains the same. He is
near, and we rejoice. He is near! He is salvation! And He is near
wherever the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacle!
There
are times you know, when I wonder how the ordinariate is to grow and
develop. Usually it is at those times in the middle of the night when
all sorts of despondent imaginations cross the mind. But they are of
course the fruit of a lack of faith and hope. Despondency can come
perhaps because of our small numbers. If only we had more people we
could do X, Y or Z! But what we must all remember, just as the
Philippian Christians needed to remember is that our joy comes not
from 'success' (usually defined by ourselves of course!) but from the
nearness of the Lord. We must always come back to this point and
remember that 'unless the Lord builds the house, they that labour, do
so in vain.' We rejoice not because we have been a success, but
because we are close to the Lord, we have been faithful. Bl. Teresa
of Calcutta said, “God has not called me to be successful; he has
called me to be faithful.” Focusing on being faithful to God, on
remaining close to Him, rather than what we would like to see as the
outcome of our work means that we are recognizing that it's not all
about us. Rather, we are “pencils in the hand of God” (Bl. Teresa
of Calcutta) and, in so many ways, God's plan for our lives and for
the lives of the people that we love and serve, will be a mystery. We
depend on our Lord; we wait on Him; for with Him alone is salvation.
To
use Isaiah's prophetic vision today, for our
wilderness to spring to life, to flower and blossom, we need to be
close to the Lord.
I
have a small book of devotions of Blessed John Henry Newman. In it is
a devotion to say whenever we visit the Blessed Sacrament. This is
recited before a meditation on Christian doctrine. It is a beautiful
thing to do when we enter the presence of the Lord, when we draw near
to Him – when He draws near to us. The Lord's near presence brings
joy as we contemplate the truth of He Who is before us. It is a
practice I would recommend. We should not take for granted the
presence of the Lord, but when we come to Him, acknowledge that He
draws near to us – He who is salvation and the bringer of joy.
Let
us then, in what remains of this glorious Advent Season, continuously
remember that the Lord is truly near – for we are indeed nearer to
Him now than when we first believed. He is near! And we draw near as
we recall and treasure His first coming, and as we look forward in
hope to His second coming, but perhaps most of all let us not forget
that He draws very close to us in His Sacred Body. Let us make the
effort to visit Him in the tabernacle whenever we can, and take with
us the joy of His presence, so that as we face the trials of life we
can do so with patience and forbearing. He is truly near. For that we
have everything to thankful for.
The
Lord can indeed make the barren desert fertile, and by placing our
trust in Him, in His drawing near to us, He can do the same for us.
Amen.
IH
