Gaudete Sunday: Let’s rejoice and be Glad
Dear brothers and sisters, in the second and the third Sunday of Advent, the gospel talks about John the Baptist two times in row, calling us to prepare our heart, to make a straight way for the Lord. The great thing about advent season is that we have been given a special and quality time to prepare for the coming of the Immanuel, Jesus Christ our Lord. Just like being a student, the more time of preparing the exam, the better result it will be. The same thing with us, the more time we prepare our hearts for Christ through the path of conversion and repentance, the better person we become, to become more like the Person we are waiting for this Christmas.
Apparently, the significance of Advent season is often overshadowed by Christmas. I fact, during this time of Advent, we are already busy with Christmas gatherings, parties, shopping and Christmas holidays. In the midst of this busyness, it is easy for us to lose our focus of what Advent really means to us in preparing for the coming of Christ. Hopefully, in our hectic busy life at the end of the year, we don’t fail to listen to the voice of John to prepare the way for the Lord.
As we are two weeks away from Christmas, the celebration of the third Sunday of Advent points us to the joy that Christ brings to us. The Lord is near!!! This joyful spirit is marked by lighting the third candle of our Advent wreath which is “rose”. We might ask, why rose color? It reminds us the very brink of morning when the sun is just beginning to come up. The horizon takes on a pale rose colour that gradually gets redder and brighter as the sun rises. So this symbolically means: Jesus, the rising sun, is very near, let’s rejoice and be glad.
Therefore, the third Sunday of Advent is known as “Gaudete Sunday”. Gaudete means ‘Rejoice!’ The liturgy of this special Sunday reminds us that Christmas is a feast of joy. And therefore, we are waiting for Christ-coming with joyful heart and mind. Having passed the midpoint of Advent, our joy gets more and more intense as we look forward to the arrival of Christ with love and thanksgiving. We are joyful because God falls in love with us and is willing to dwell among and within us.
Our waiting time nearly over, it is the time for us now to wait for Christmas with joy. Let’s start celebrating the joy that Christ brings us even in the midst of our uncertainty in life. Christ is the source of our joy; He is Emmanuel, God who is with us in our suffering and uncertainty of life. He is the reason for our joy. He is the reason for our Christmas. And therefore, with the prophet Isaiah, we exult for joy in the Lord. With our mother Mary we sing together our spirits rejoice in God our Savior. And with St. Paul, we sing “rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!!
