3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
This Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent it is also known as Gaudete Sunday. In some places Rose vestments are used and we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath. It is a Sunday when we rejoice as we look forward to the birth of Jesus. In our parish this year we are celebrating Bambinelli Sunday. This is a Roman tradition where the pope will bless the baby Jesus from family cribs brought to the papal audience by the children on Gaudete Sunday. Pope Benedict tells us that the blessing of the “Bambinelli” in Rome, reminds us that the crib is a school of life where we can learn the secret of true joy. This does not consist in having many things but in feeling loved by the Lord, in giving oneself as a gift for others and in loving one another. Let us look at the crib. Our Lady and St Joseph do not seem to be a very fortunate family; their first child was born in the midst of great hardship; yet they are full of deep joy, because they love each other, they help each other and they are certain that God, who made himself present in the little Jesus, is at work in their story. As we prepare for the birth of Jesus we have to ask ourselves is God made real through the baby Jesus present in our own life stories? Our Gospel story tells us about John the Baptist who was the voice crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord. John the Evangelist presented the Baptist as God’s witness, the one who spoke eternal truth in a transient world. John’s message and ministry of a repentant baptism prefigured Christ’s. John baptized in the spirit of hope and we live in the spirit of hope. The baptism of Jesus realized that hope. Those baptized by John looked forward to a life with God. Those baptized by the Christ lived in God as we live in God.
We rejoice and praise God on this Gaudete Sunday. We thank him for all he has done for us in our own lives and in the lives of all those who are near and dear to us, families and friends wherever they are.We rejoice that through the coming of his Son Jesus we have come to know God as our Father. We do our best to follow his Gospel of love in a spirit of joy. As we continue our Advent journey along the road that lead to salvation let us prepare the way for the Lord in our own lives remembering that in the words of the Entrance Antiphon we should rejoice in the Lord always; for the Lord is near.
Fullerton T 