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A Week for Joy and Graditude...
The Third Sunday of Advent focuses on the joy of coming redemption. It is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday, a day that, "...takes its common name from the Latin word Gaudete ("Rejoice"). Throughout Scripture, God's people are reminded to take joy in the midst of waiting and to remember what God has done in the past:
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God (and) Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob (Philippians 4:4–6; Psalm 84:1)."
The Advent process of waiting and gratitude is directed towards contemplating the depth of God's undeserved gift of grace. One that has come in the past and will be revealed in the future:
"What Advent is, really, is a discipline: a way of forming anticipation and channeling it toward its goal. There’s a flicker of rose on the third Sunday—Gaudete!, that day’s Mass begins: Rejoice!—but then it’s back to the dark purple that is the mark of the season in liturgical churches. And what those somber vestments symbolize is the deeply penitential design of Advent. Nothing we can do earns us the gift of Christmas, any more than Lent earns us Easter. But a season of contrition and sacrifice prepares us to understand and feel something about just how great the gift is when at last the day itself arrives." -Joseph Bottum, "The End of Advent" in First Things (Nov. 28, 2008)
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“Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them and people who look up with reverence to the greatest in the world. Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know they are poor and incomplete, and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come, before which they can only bow in humble timidity, waiting until he inclines himself toward us – the Holy One himself, God in the child in the manger. God is coming; the Lord Jesus is coming; Christmas is coming. Rejoice O Christendom.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
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When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy...
Commentary on Psalm 126
Augustine, Calvin, Spurgeon,
Benedict XVI
Audio
Psalm 126, Isaiah 61,
1 Thessalonians 5, John 1
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