Sharing the Joy: a Reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday, 2025

by Sister Kathleen Del Monte

Come to us, gentle and loving God

We long for you

Open our eyes to your ways

We long to see your face

…so we pray in our responsorial verse at Evening vigil….

I love Gaudete Sunday. It has energy, movement, joy!

Why is it called “Gaudete”? We read that Gaudete is taken from the Latin for the first word of the Introit or Entrance Antiphon for Sunday’s Mass. The Entrance Antiphon kind of introduces the theme of the day. It serves to unite the gathering people with the liturgical season and call them to worship.

Our Entrance Antiphon for Gaudete Sunday is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near (4.4-5). So our theme this weekend is “Rejoice!”

Notice how this week, compared to the first half of Advent, the anticipation is heightened. Listen to the tone of the antiphons in the first two weeks of Advent:

The First week, we prayed:

To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. Nor let my enemies exult over me; and let none who hope in you be put to shame.

And in the Second week,

O people of Sion, behold, the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart.

But this weekend, we proclaim, “Rejoice”: The first word, right out of the gate: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.

Do you hear the difference? The call to waiting in anticipation? With expectant joy and hope? It’s as if the Church is kicking it up a notch or two.

But what are we to rejoice about? Why are we called to rejoice?

In the Gospel we read how John the Baptist from prison sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one who is to come – or should they be looking for another. To which Jesus replies:

Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised… (from Matthew 11)

Jesus points to his deeds as if to say, in the words of the prolific Augustinian friar Thomas of Villanova: “The works that I am doing are my witness. These are the works I am performing; judge for yourself whether I am the Messiah.”

These transformations harken back to the wondrous transformations we read in Isaiah:

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song (from Isaiah 35).

But it’s not always easy to hope, to be patient. This waiting thing can be difficult.

When I was in grade school, we planted seeds in a bit of soil in egg cartons. Maybe you did too. We were instructed to put them on the windowsill and to water them. And we were told to watch and wait. And that with patience, little sprouts would begin to grow. We only needed to wait and watch.

Now maybe it only took a few days. I don’t really recall. I do remember that it seemed to me an eternity. Was it ever going to grow? Was anything really happening? How do I know?

And then one day, we could see a small green shoot peeping up through the soil. How remarkable to my child sensibility; it seemed almost a miracle to me.

The farmer knows this from years of experience. And those of you who grew up on a farm learned this at a very young age. But this child, growing up in the suburbs, had to learn it.

As adults, we know that sadly, we need not travel far to see the pain, the brokenness, the hurt in our world. But maybe that’s the whole point of Advent. As Mary DeTurris Poust reminds us, “The One we are looking for is already and always beside us.” This is the mystery, the glory, the gift of the Incarnation.

Jesus’ mission, his “incarnation”, continues today through you and me. God is “advented,” if you will, when we reach out in love, when we pray for the intentions of others, when we find ways to listen and attend with the ear of our hearts, to meet the needs of our sisters and brothers around us.

In this Advent season, and always, we are called, as St. Joseph Sister Mary M. McGlone offers, to be the lights that manifest the presence of Christ among us. We are called to be the joy and the hope for one another in our world. Just as in today’s gospel people were changed by an encounter with Jesus, we are given opportunities each day to bring Christ to birth in each of us and in one another (Barbara Woeste, OSB).

Let’s find ways, large and small, to share our hope and our joy with one another. We may not know the challenges others are facing. But we can offer kindness, caring, a genuine smile, a word of encouragement. You may just be that spark of hope that someone needs today; tomorrow they will be that for you.

But how do we sustain this, especially amidst the complex challenges of our lives and of our world?

I invite you to consider: What brings you joy?  Where do you find your hope? It’s worth, I think, asking ourselves those questions. And spending time with our responses.

Identify those things that bring you joy, that deep down kind of holy joy. Know where you find your hope. Practice those things. Be intentional. Be, dare I say, solicitous to do at least one of these each day.

“Where is that little shoot in your spiritual life today? What kind of watering does it need? Attend to it…. [N]ourish the seed of faith” (Mary Poust) – nourish that seed of hope.

And as St. Benedict reminds us of the communal dimension of our call, may God bring us all together to everlasting life, the ultimate joy!

Come to us, gentle and loving God

We long for you

Open our eyes to your ways

We long to see your face

Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10

The desert and the parched land will exult;

the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

They will bloom with abundant flowers,

and rejoice with joyful song.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

they will see the glory of the LORD,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the hands that are feeble,

make firm the knees that are weak,

say to those whose hearts are frightened:

Be strong, fear not!

Here is your God,

he comes with vindication;

with divine recompense

he comes to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,

the ears of the deaf be cleared;

then will the lame leap like a stag,

then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return

and enter Zion singing,

crowned with everlasting joy;

they will meet with joy and gladness,

sorrow and mourning will flee.

 

James 5:7-10

Be patient, brothers and sisters,

until the coming of the Lord.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,

being patient with it

until it receives the early and the late rains.

You too must be patient.

Make your hearts firm,

because the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another,

that you may not be judged.

Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.

Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters,

the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

 

Matthew 11:2-11

 When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,

he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,

“Are you the one who is to come,

or should we look for another?”

Jesus said to them in reply,

“Go and tell John what you hear and see:

the blind regain their sight,

the lame walk,

lepers are cleansed,

the deaf hear,

the dead are raised,

and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.

And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

As they were going off,

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,

“What did you go out to the desert to see?

A reed swayed by the wind?

Then what did you go out to see?

Someone dressed in fine clothing?

Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.

Then why did you go out?  To see a prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is the one about whom it is written:

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way before you.

Amen, I say to you,

among those born of women

there has been none greater than John the Baptist;

yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”