Gaudete in Domino semper iterum dico gaudete. That is the Latin for the line from today’s second reading, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” I give you the Latin, from the Vulgate translation of St. Jerome, because this Third Sunday of Advent is often referred to as “Gaudete Sunday.” This is our day of rejoicing that the Lord’s coming is drawing near. This is the day we light the rose colored candle on the Advent wreath. Rose is a brighter color but one that that complements the purple of the other three weeks. So the rose candle reminds us that we have not yet arrived, but there is joy at the coming of the Lord.
That is an important message for us as we try to keep the balance between the impatience of waiting and the joy of the Lord’s coming. Sometimes, though, joy can be hard to find. Just consider all the violence in our world. The terrorism in Paris recently, followed by shooting incidents in our country, leave us wondering where we are headed. Perhaps part of the uneasiness comes from our modern twenty-four hour news cycle, which leads to greater coverage of events that would only have received passing mention years ago. But whether it is perception or reality, the news we face makes it difficult to follow St. Paul’s urging to rejoice.
The key is to realize that Paul tells us to rejoice “in the Lord.” After the recent shooting in San Bernadino, California, a number of political leaders made statements about praying for the victims. In response, The New York Daily News ran a large headline proclaiming, “God isn’t fixing this.” In what was quickly labeled “prayer shaming,” quite a few people (including some on my Facebook feed) told these politicians to stop praying and to do something about it. Now I can understand if the editorialists thought that the statements of prayer were empty without action. But to complain about the offer of prayer is counterproductive at best. The only hope we have for joy, now or in any time in the world’s history, is to prepare for the Lord’s coming. Certainly we have to put our faith into action. But first and foremost, our actions have to be grounded in the peace that only Christ can give.
I often think of a scene from the old TV show M*A*S*H. There was a crisis in the camp on one episode, and everyone was running around trying to deal with it. The camp chaplain, Father Mulcahy, asked Colonel Potter if there was anything he could do to help. Colonel Potter said, “Pray, Father.” Father Mulcahy complained, “That’s all I ever get to do.” But for us, particularly in Advent, our prayer reminds us that Christ has promised never to leave us. He will bring peace to a troubled world, and He will offer hope in hopeless situations. For us, the message is clear: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice.”
Father H
