Third week of Advent - JOY - GAUDETE SUNDAY

Today, Gaudete Sunday, the Church takes a break from penitential violet colors and calls us to anticipate the joy of Christ’s birth soon to come, with rose.  Like the crowds in today’s Gospel we might respond to the Church by saying, “what should we do?” How can we be joyful in the midst of preparation; or more importantly, what place does joy have in a world where happiness is already so hard to come by?
In most climates roses cannot bloom year-round. Part of what makes them special is this very fact. They burst with color and scent in spring, they wither and lie dormant in ­winter. Happiness is something we think we would like to have all the time, but can’t. Joy is something we don’t have all the time, but we can—because joy is as much the fruit of absence as of presence. We can take joy in knowing a loved one is far away if we know that he is doing what he loves. We take joy in seeing another eat a meal we have prepared even if it means there is less for us. 

Saint John the Baptist was not worthy to unfasten the ­sandals of the Messiah. Yet he attracted the crowds by pointing elsewhere. Today we can take joy in Him who is to come by putting God first and letting ourselves come second. 
   Father Benedict Nivakoff, o.s.b.

O God, give me the courage to come second so that your Son might come first for all men.
Source: Magnificat