Gaudete Sunday
“Well, I’ve been naughty and not nice;” were the words of a little girl who came to confession a few years ago at a different parish. Dangling and swinging her legs that could not reach the floor, I wondered if she figured that God is like Santa. On one level, I think she got it right! After I stopped chuckling, I asked her how she has been naughty and she told me her sins. Although it was like being pelted with marshmallows, I thought this little angel has grasped the point that she has freely chosen to do things that were wrong.
I then reflected about how many adults see their problems as someone else’s fault, or society’s fault, but this little girl knew that she had done wrong and wanted forgiveness. I looked at her as she was talking that special Brooklynese dialect of children her age, and all I could think about was how lovable she is and that is how God sees her. I believe lovable is how God sees all of us. When we have been naughty and not nice— Santa is not our concerned; it is God. Perhaps you would agree that we too feel better about ourselves when we recognize our responsibility for our actions and seek forgiveness. We feel alive, as we grow closer to God knowing we have mended our ways.
For we have the means to be lovable to all in our life and choose to do so. It can start in the simplest way like my little friend from confession—just going and speaking the truth and asking to be forgiven. We have penance services and confession periods to give us the opportunity to say, “I take responsibility for my actions and I seek God’s forgiveness so I can be a more loving person.”
That is the message in our gospel this Sunday—what we need to do to be lovable. The cousin of Jesus radically changed the way people lived as he proclaimed in the name of the Lord: REPENT and take responsibility for your actions or lack of actions. His message has rung through every age since his mission of repentance—including ours. It is a demand for continual and fundamental change in our behavior. Isn’t that why we also come to Mass to present those parts to the Lord that we want to change—where we want to be more lovable.
We can ask the Lord the same question that the people in our Gospel for this 3rd Sunday of Advent asked The Baptist: “What is it that we should do?” We know we will receive the same answers today as back then; “Let the man with two coats give to him who has none. The man who has food should do the same. Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what are we to do?” He answered them, “Exact nothing over and above your fixed amount.” Soldiers likewise asked him, “What about us?” He told them, “Do not bully anyone. Denounce no one falsely. Be content with your pay.”
John’s radical answer is to be charitable–give from surplus to those suffering in poverty— be honest, not using position to enrich themselves and stop harassing and intimidating people. He cited so many ways that are still valid today, and needed today for all of us can make a radical change in our ways of magnifying Christ in our lives.
Christmas is about a radical change in the world and us. It is a time to let go of old wounds and repair the breach between one another in new birth; a time to see all people as children of God worthy of the Messiah and worthy of our loving care.
And with such anticipated change in us and the world, the Church proclaims “Rejoice” on this Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday. However, the Latin meaning of Gaudete means farewell. Let’s say farewell to our sins and hello to rejoicing in the Lord.
What a wonderful time of the year we are in a symbolic recognition of the wonderful world we are in—the good we can really do for one another. It is a world filled with Jesus in us—in his spirit. YOU ARE ALL GOOD PEOPLE WHO BASICALLY SEEK TO DO GOOD. We show Jesus to the world by determining our own basic needs and joyfully, gratefully give to people in need. What a great opportunity the Lord gives us to help be Him to others: REJOICE!