December 17: Rejoice, a Sunday Scriptures blog

fireworksThis third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called “Gaudete” or “Rejoice” Sunday, and wearing of rose-colored vestments is permitted. “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul,” proclaims our first reading from Third Isaiah. And who would not cheer for an Anointed who appeared like a bridegroom with a diadem, or a bride bedecked with jewels! The power of God acting purposefully, as in our first two weeks of Advent, is again front and center in the Scriptures of this third Sunday. The Lord God will “make” justice and praise spring up (first reading). “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it” (second reading). And “a man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light” (our Gospel). “There is one among you whom you do not recognize,” John the Baptist tells the Pharisees. But the other John, the Evangelist writing those words, also means them as a reminder to his first century community, and to us today: the Risen Christ is among us, within us, within our lives and our world. Can you feel that reality in your heart? Because it is from that awareness and appreciation that we contemplate with joy how it all happened long ago, like a person in love looking back with joy to relive how it all began.

– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia

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