Love thy Neighbor | Seasonal Reflections
Father, why is the third Advent Candle lit this Sunday pink?
It's pink because our celebration of the birth of Jesus is drawing near. Older Catholics and many Catholics today refer to this Sunday as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is a word in Latin that means rejoice. It is used over and over during the Mass today.
At the very beginning of Mass, had we not sung, we would have recited, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! Indeed, the Lord is near!” In the opening prayer we prayed to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them with rejoicing. In the reading from the Prophet Isaiah we heard, “I rejoice heartily in the Lord.” The Responsorial Psalm proclaimed, “My soul rejoices in my God.” and lastly in Saint Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica we read, “Rejoice always.”
Rejoicing is not a mood or a feeling. It is an attitude. Joy is an attitude. It is attitude that says no matter what the circumstances in our life at a given moment, God’s love is constant. You will recognize it when you see it in different people. No matter how far down and out they are, they will still smile and give you the shirt off their back because they possess joy … God’s love in their lives.
Some of us looking around at our world or at circumstances in our personal lives right now, cannot seem to find reasons to rejoice. Finding joy during this season of Advent does not have to do with the highs and lows of life today; it has to do with the Good News that God is born into our world.
John the Baptist is featured prominently in the Scriptures this third Sunday of Advent. He was a unique man, had his own followers, lived an austere life and for some, he was a mystery. Religious leaders asked him, “Who are you?” Were they really interested in who he was or were they asking, “Who do you think you are?”
He answered, I am not the Christ. Well, then who are you they asked? Moses? John simply said no and then answered, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, 'make straight the way of the Lord.'”
John knew who he was. He was certain that God’s hand was upon him. Every response he gave to their questions revealed who God was and did, and not who he was. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, “the Spirit of the Lord was with John the Baptist.”
This third Sunday of Advent opens up questions for us to think about. One in particular is, “Who are you?” Sometimes when asked this question we answer by saying what we do, where we are from, etc. Today these Scriptures and this season of Advent invite us to go deeper.
“Who are you?” If you were baptized, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you. God anointed you. He clothed you in a robe of salvation and wrapped you in a mantle of justice. Unfortunately for most of us, all of this happened when we were a baby and remember little of what happened. Because it did happen, St. Paul is speaking of us when he said, “the one who called us, is faithful and will accomplish good in us.”
The readings today offer us concrete help in defining who we are or ought to be as followers of Jesus. In the reading from the prophet Isaiah, he tells us that God’s spirit consistently moves on behalf of people who are left behind, the poor, brokenhearted and those in bondage. That spirit is in us. How are we using it?
St. Paul tells us that a true believer possesses the joy that comes from knowing how good God is and truly believing that God’s love is in us. Do we believe this?
In the Gospel today the testimony of John the Baptist tells us that those moved by God always point to God … and not to themselves.
The question we are left with from the readings today is, “How does your care for others, your joy, and your awareness of God, tell others who you are?
For additional reading: Today’s readings.