Today is Gaudete Sunday — when we light the rose colored candle of our wreath — Gaudete, which means “rejoice.” And why do we call it this, you might ask? Well — we can have a bit of a liturgical lesson here — for every Mass, there are different antiphons or verses that are to be said or sung at different parts of the Mass: at the procession at the beginning of Mass, at the offertory, and at Communion. Now there is also the option to sing a hymn at those times, which is the typical custom. But the first antiphon, the entrance antiphon, the one said or sung during the procession at the beginning of Mass, is typically the most important because it tells you a lot about the focus of the Mass. And typically, Masses would be referred to by the first word of that antiphon at the beginning of Mass.

For instance, if any of you have seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the main character’s name is Quasimodo, because he was born on Quasimodo Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter when those are the first words of the Entrance Antiphon. Quasi modo geniti infantes, alleluia!

And this is why we refer to today as “Gaudete Sunday,” because the first word of the Entrance Antiphon in Latin is Gaudete.

Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete: modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus prope est.

Translation: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.

And so this is our focus: Rejoice! We hear this again in the first reading from Isaiah: I rejoice heartily in the LORD. We hear it in the Responsorial Psalm: My soul rejoices in my God — these words of the Blessed Mother; Mary, our example of rejoicing. And we hear it again in the second reading: Rejoice always.

Bu why? Right, this is the question. We get it; we’re supposed to rejoice, but why are we rejoicing? Well, the antiphon tells us: Because the Lord is near.

So now, after having been focusing on the coming of Christ again in glory these past two Sundays, we shift our attention to the particular preparation for the celebration of the first coming of Christ, the celebration of Christ being born at Bethlehem. And this is just one reason why we rejoice.

As you may have heard me share before, my family is a big Disney family. We love DisneyWorld. And when we go to DisneyWorld, we always go right around this time — the week or so before Christmas. And so, even to this day, the season of Christmas always brings about happy thoughts of DisneyWorld memories. And likewise, the thought of DisneyWorld often brings about the excitement of Christmas.

And, over the years, I have learned to use this to my advantage. As you know the war on Christmas is very much alive, and so too is the war on Christmas music. So, for years, in order to guard myself from the Christmas-music-haters — my brother being one of them — but in order to still muster up the excitement for Christmas, I listen to lots and lots of Disney music. I know thats very hard to believe. You can ask the ladies in the office, if you don’t believe me. But this is a practice I have developed to help me muster up the excitement, the rejoicing at the coming of the Lord. !1 Well, for the Church, it is not much different. The Church too declares this week as a time to start immediately preparing for the celebration of Christmas, to rekindle the hope for the coming of Christ on earth, to muster up the hope with rejoicing at the fact that Christ came to earth to save us. Now is the time to break out all the decorations, to really focus your thoughts and your prayer, a time to allow Christ to re-enter into your life in a new way. Now is the time for rejoicing. “Rejoice!” the Church says. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.”

But then, after all this talk about rejoicing, after all these antiphons and readings about rejoicing, we get to our Gospel passage; and it’s about John the Baptist. What? Why are we talking about John the Baptist? That’s like 30 years after Jesus’ birth!

But again, the Church is trying to remind us of something. We have St. John the Baptist, he who was to prepare the way of the Lord; and he is being questioned by the priests and Levites, who ask, “Who are you?” And notice his answer. He doesn’t say, “Oh hello there! I’m John!” He doesn’t say, “Hi, I’m John, son of Zechariah.” Instead he says, “I am not the Christ.” Christ here is a Hebrew word which, translated into Greek means “Messiah” which, translated into English means, “anointed one.”

And so St. John the Baptist is referring all the way back to the first reading, all the way back to the prophet Isaiah who said, “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God.”

These were the words about the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one who was to come. And so, St. John, knowing why they are asking him this question, knowing that they are wondering if he is the Messiah who was promised, he doesn’t even bother to introduce himself. Rather, he humbly tells them who he is not not. “I am not the Promised One. I am but the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord.’ The one who is coming after me, He is the Promised One, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. So prepare the way for Him; prepare the way of the Lord.”

And so that is our second lesson to be learned today. First, that we are to rejoice, that we are to muster up our hope for the coming of Christ. Second, we are to learn, just like St. John the Baptist proclaimed, that we are not the Christ. We ourselves are not our own God. Rather, we need a savior. As much as we may like to think we can handle our lives on our own, that we are in control, we are in need of a savior. And so we rejoice in that, in that we have been given a Savior, and that He is coming.

So then, how will we prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas? Will we light our rose- colored candles on our Advent wreaths? Will we sing music of rejoicing? Will we sing Disney music like I do? Will we muster up our hope and rejoice in the Lord? Will we wait with expectation for the coming of the Promised One into the messiness of lives? Will we renew our trust in God and His plan for our lives? Will we in all circumstances give thanks, testing everything, retaining what is good, refraining from every kind of evil? Will we renew our commitment to better know, love, and serve God? Will we learn to pray, pray more, pray better? !2 Will we learn humility? Will we learn to decrease that Christ might increase? Will we prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths?

Gaudete! Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.

!3