THE JOY AND PEACE OF GOD

A MESSAGE FOR GAUDETE SUNDAY

Today is Gaudete Sunday.  The name comes from the first word of the Introit, Gaudete, which means “Rejoice,” and which introduces the theme for today’s Liturgy.  “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice!”  We hear these words of the Introit again in St. Paul’s Epistle, reiterating the command of Holy Church that indeed, today, we must set aside our penitential Advent mood, and be joyful.

Exactly how joyful should we be?  After all, it’s not yet Christmas, despite all the festive trimmings that have appeared in our streets and shops.  We still need to hold back a little on the full joy that comes only with the arrival of the Christ Child on Christmas night.  

In fact, St. Paul himself follows up his command to rejoice, with the words “Let your moderation be known unto all men.”  This moderation can be taken in two senses. First of all, that we should moderate our penances today and be joyful, but secondly, and equally importantly, we should moderate our rejoicing.  Our vestments today may be rose-colored, there may be flowers on our altar, but our Mass is still deprived of its Gloria in Excelsis Deo, and our joy today is tempered by the anticipation of the upcoming Ember Days to be observed later this week.

So take today as it is intended by the Church, a subtle reminder that by lightening up a little on our Advent penances, this is still Advent after all, and we must resume that penitential spirit after today’s short break.  Perhaps we may even feel a twinge of well-deserved guilt that perhaps our approach to the season of Advent has not really been quite so penitential as it should be…. But not to worry, we still have a week and two days left to double up, and prepare appropriately for the coming of God’s greatest gift to man, the gift of his only-begotten Son who brings our redemption.

If we observe the rest of Advent in this spirit, “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” as St. Paul says, then we shall indeed find that Christmas peace, the peace that comes to all men of good will on Christmas Day.  So pray today for that peace that draweth nigh, prepare the way of the Lord by letting your requests be made known unto God.  We are about to receive in our midst the Christ Child, who will come to dispel the darkness from our world and bring the Light of God to replace it.  And we are about to receive in our bodies and souls, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of that same Christ Child in our Christmas Communion.  Here, in this receiving of Christ in our world and in our very soul, is the true source of that “peace of God, which passeth all understanding” that “shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  For there, “where meek souls shall receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.”