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Advent - Third Sunday |
Gaudete Sunday
The Redeemer Is Near! Rejoice!
Each week of Advent the Church tries to increase the Advent spirit of
joy and longing in our hearts. On the First Sunday, it awakened in us in a very
general way recognition of our need for Redemption and a longing for the
Redeemer. On the Second Sunday, it promised us that ‘ He shall come, prepare
ye the way for Him!’ Today, the Third Sunday, the liturgy tells us: He is
already near. Therefore rejoice! Just as children are already counting the days
till Christmas and the coming of the Christ Child, so adults too, should be
filled with joyful longing for God to come.
Gaudete! Rejoice!
Quiet, restrained joy is therefore the keynote of today’s feast. The altar is at least sparsely decorated with flowers, the organ plays joyfully, the Mass vestments are not violet but rose colored. The Epistle tells us to "rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice… for the Lord is near."
On this day, then we pray for this inner joy. Just as outside in this season, darkness holds sway and the period of daylight is short, so too in our souls the light is all too dim. We are filled with selfishness, laziness and spiritual lethargy. And so we pray – a true Advent prayer- that God Himself may come and bring light and joy to our souls.
Jesus is near! That is the central theme of today’s Mass. He is near now on our altar at the Sacrifice of the Mass; He is constantly, by day and night here in the tabernacle; and especially near, no within us, in Holy Communion. With His Godhead He is always near. He is indeed ever present for us. In His love for us He even comes to live in the hearts of all those who are baptized.
Truly the Lord is near yet we do not even know Him and think so very little of His ever presence in us. Especially now in Advent we should think constantly of God’s presence, for that is the unending spring of pure, holy joy. As St. Francis de Sales says: "How happy is the soul who in the stillness of his heart lovingly preserves the holy feeling of the presence of God." Joy is the main ingredient of a healthy spiritual life.
But even in the most faithful Christian, the happiness of the nearness of God does not always reign. Days and weeks may come, when we feel ourselves completely abandoned by God. Let us at such times look for Him, filled with Advent longing, and call out to Him as in the Gradual of today’s Mass: "Stir up Thy power, O Lord, and come to save us! Alleluia."
We know that through the death of Jesus on the Cross we have already been redeemed and we thank God for this at Mass today. But even so, the redemption of each one of us individually has not yet been accomplished, and as long as we are on earth we have constant need of forgiveness for our sins. We are not yet fully and finally united with God. We can even lose God by mortal sin. On the other hand this union with God can and ought to become ever closer and stronger the longer we live. And so we must pray without stopping to God and ask Him to let us abide with Him always.
Our Advent longing should last all our lives. Only when we close our eyes in death and our soul awakens in the bright and eternal embrace of God – only then shall we see God face to face as the shepherds saw the Christ Child in the manger. Then all the Advent yearning will have ended and the great and eternal Christmas will have dawned for us.
