Third Sunday of Advent / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
This weekend, the Church celebrates the Third Sunday of Advent, which is also known as Gaudete Sunday. This name comes from the opening word of the original Latin text of the entrance antiphon at Mass. In Latin, “gaudete” means “to rejoice.” Rejoicing is indicated because Christmas is near at hand.
Another reason for rejoicing is that, hopefully, we all feel closer to God because of observing Advent with prayer, reflection and penance. If we have used Advent as intended by the Church, we are nearer to a fuller communion with the Lord, the light of the world.
Priests may wear rose-colored vestments on this weekend, symbolizing the darkness of Advent already being lightened by the forthcoming light of the celebration of the Lord’s birth at Christmas.
The third part of Isaiah furnishes the first reading. When this passage was written, God’s people were weary and frustrated.
They, or their forebears, had undergone the humiliation, uncertainty and misery of exile in Babylon. When allowed finally to leave Babylon and return to their homeland, they understandably were overjoyed.
They found, however, a sterile and parched land awaiting them. Life was brutally hard. Had God tricked them, providing for their release from Babylon only to subject them to further, worse trials at home? Did God even exist?
This reading glows with optimism, which is typical for Isaiah. Whatever may be the reality of the moment, for those loyal to God, a wondrous future awaits.
St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Thessalonians provides the second reading. Belief in the Lord’s second coming, and impatience to see it occur, were widespread in the first generations of Christianity. This reading catches well this mood.
Longing for the second coming among the early Christians is not hard to explain. They had much to endure. Severe persecution had developed. The culture all around the Christians was hostile. Temptations to renounce the Gospel abounded.
Paul reassured the Christians of Thessalonica, urging them to be true to the Gospel. God and his goodness will one day prevail.
St. John’s Gospel is the source of the last reading. The reading is a story about St. John the Baptist, whose own identity puzzled his contemporaries. Some assumed that John was the Messiah. If not the Messiah, others wondered if he were Elijah or another prophet who had returned to Earth.
Replying to these questions, John was firm. Another would follow him, he insisted. John was to prepare the way for this future representative of God, who would be wonderful for all humanity. John is not worthy even to untie the straps of his sandals.
Reflection
In calling us to rejoice on this Gaudete weekend, the Church either presumes that we have spent the weeks of Advent pondering within ourselves the meaning of salvation for us personally and individually, or it urges us to use the remaining time in this season to seek God with all our hearts.
Christ was born, in God’s merciful plan, to meet human needs for guidance, hope and life.
As Christmas 2023 draws near, the land blessed by the footsteps of Christ is in anguish. The war between the Palestinian extremists’ Hamas and Israel continues, ending lives, destroying hope and building despair.
Fighting endures in Ukraine. Less bloody, but bitter divisions, separate Americans, filling them with fear and hatred.
How much evidence must humans see to realize the damage that their dismissal of God creates for themselves and others? What proof is needed to convince us that the way of Christ is the only way to peace and goodness?
See Christ’s coming as the answer, determined to bring Jesus into our hearts and lives and thereby to begin, at least in ourselves, the process of living sanely and peacefully. †