Dear Friends in Christ,
The Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete (pronounced gau-day-tay) Sunday in the Church. The word gaudete is a Latin word meaning ‘rejoice.’ Therefore, the Third Sunday of Advent is the “Sunday of Rejoicing”.
But, what does the Church rejoice about on the Third Sunday of Advent? The answer is the nearness of Christ’s coming. Advent is a four-week time of preparation and penance for the feast of Christmas. On Gaudete Sunday we recognize that Christmas will soon arrive and that, with Christmas, the more somber and penitential mood of Advent will be replaced with the joyful and celebratory nature of the Christmas Season. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, the world’s salvation.
Gaudete Sunday reminds us that as Christians, we should be joyful in our knowing of Christ and in the gift of our faith that leads to eternal life. Without Jesus, we could not know the joy of salvation and thehope of Heaven. Our friendship with the Lord is the beginning of eternal life for us now. We trust that this friendship will eventually lead to the fulfillment of eternal life for us in the future.
Our joyful hope in Christ invites us to remove anything in our lives that would block us from deeper
friendship with Him. Sin keeps us from the friendship with Jesus that we want to have. I would invite all of you to join us for our parish Advent Penance Service this Monday, December 12 at 7 PM. We will be joined by another area priest for this service. The penance service gives us all the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) and Absolution so that our joy in the Lord may be full and our hearts may be ready to celebrate the feast of Christmas.
Let us together prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ!
In Christ,
Fr. Michael