3rd Sunday of Advent

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice!

This is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete, meaning 'rejoice ye', comes from the first word of the opening antiphnon of the Mass. St Paul tells us to 'rejoice in the Lord always' and if that was not enough he says 'again I say rejoice!' There is almost a break in the waiting of Advent, so we can jump up an dance around at the thoughts of what we are about to celebrate; the longing is about to be fulfilled - Christ is near. It is fair to say that Christmas looms large on the horizon; not in the cheep commercial sense of 'buy, buy, buy', but the real sense of God is with us!

So what is there to rejoice about? We could ask that question of St John the Baptist in prison. The great Prophet, languishing in his cell, asks of Jesus 'are you the one, or have we to wait for another?' Instead of a straight yes or no, the Lord asks in return 'what have you seen?' and lists out the signs associated with believers. He points out that the blind see, the deaf hear, the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them.

The Kingdom is not just announced by rhetoric, the kingdom is proclaimed by the Word which is active. Christ's Kingdom proclaimed makes itself effective. When God created the world He said 'Let there be light!' and there was light.  When the Kingdom is proclaimed it is made manifest in the action of believers. The Word also becomes flesh in the way we live.

As we rejoice in the fact that Christ is the one who has come, may our joy be infectious! May we proclaim what we believe in our hearts in the practice of our lives.