Reflection for December 11
The Third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday, which we commonly recognize from the rose-colored vestments at liturgy and the rose candle in our home Advent wreaths. The word “Gaudete” comes from the traditional entrance antiphon for this Sunday which begins: “Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete!” Which means, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!” At this stage in our Advent journey, our joyful anticipation of the birth of Jesus grows greater as we enter the final stages of our preparation for Christmas.
If today’s liturgy is all about rejoicing and gladness in preparation for the Messiah, it seems that John the Baptist missed the memo in today’s gospel as he serves us another helping of his characteristic apocalyptic gloom. He says of the Messiah: “His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” John’s camelhair vesture hardly seems rosy.
But can there be a hopeful reading of John’s foreboding message? In the first half of the gospel, John tells his disciples how to prepare for the coming Messiah. He tells them to share their resources and to stop taking advantage of each other. John prepares us to receive a Messiah who will require us to live our lives in a certain way.
Our faith is not like empty consumerism or pop spirituality which promises to bring us joy without condition. Our faith shows us a path to joy that goes by the way of self-sacrifice, repentance, and commitment to others. The path that John foreshadows for the Christian disciple may not seem easy or light, but it is the only way to true joy. As we prepare for Christmas, let us rejoice that we celebrate our shared joy in a community that calls us to live the Good News.
Noel Terranova
Holy Family Staff