Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Rejoice in the Lord Always!


Deacon Tom Writes,
“Rejoice in the Lord Always!


Today is known as Gaudete Sunday. The word Gaudete is the first word of the Entrance Antiphon for today’s Liturgy. "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice! The Lord is near". One of the symbols of this Joy is the lighting of the rose candle on our Advent wreath.

In our first reading the Prophet Isaiah tells us that a day will come when God's kingdom will break forth like a highway in the wilderness or crocuses blooming in the parched desert. This isn’t some delusional imagination at work. When their time comes even deserts produce profound beauty. And so it will be in God’s time Isaiah insists. The day will come when the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap, and the dumb will shout for joy. Water will gush in the desert, burning sand will transform into a bubbling spring. For all those who are twisted, bent, and bowed down by their burdens and harsh realities of life, Isaiah prophesies that one day "gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away".  

Today’s readings prompt us to be people of expectant hope, to be a people who claim God’s promise as if we already possessed it, as if we were already living in this ultimate reality! Today we all claim as our own the gladness and joy Isaiah tells us will chase away our sorrows and sadness. Look closely at our readings today. Look around today at the litany of people who, although cast aside by the world, marginalized by poverty and ignorance, sadness and disease, refugees from war and famine; these are the very one who have a special claim on God’s love, mercy, and compassion. Look carefully at those Isaiah says have a very special reason to rejoice today: those with feeble hands and weak knees, those with frightened hearts, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute, the oppressed, the hungry, the captives, the bowed down, the strangers, the orphans, the widows, the poor, the lepers, and the dead. To be numbered among them…. is to be specially chosen by God!!!!! To be number among those who serve these little ones is to be faithful to Christ’s call to serve these, the least of our sisters and brothers.

On this day of Rejoicing, it is good to recall the times in our lives when we have been the forgotten, the alienated or hungry one. Let us resolve this Advent to be a source of strength, encouragement, and support to those who have yet to claim God’s promise of gladness and joy.

Make this a joy-filled day!

Deacon Tom

Image credit: REJOICE! By Sarah Brush, Discipleship Ministries

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