Advent Week 3 – Rejoice!

This week’s Advent blog post focuses on Gaudete Sunday, when we reflect on being joyful like Mary at the Annunciation.

Rejoice for He is coming!

The Third Sunday of Advent is different to the other Sundays for several reasons.

1) We get to light the pink candle on our Advent wreaths

2) It has the second name Gaudete Sunday

3) It’s when we go from preparing for the second coming of Christ to preparing for the birth of Jesus!

The pink candle that we light today represents joy! The word Gaudete is the Latin for ‘Rejoice!’

This Sunday is all about rejoicing – but what are we rejoicing for?

For the first half of Advent we’ve been preparing specifically for the second coming of Christ. From this Sunday onwards we prepare for Jesus’ birth as a baby.

We’re rejoicing for what is to come, the birth of Jesus, the birth of the Son of God who came to save us from our sins by dying for us!

If you ask me it’s definitely something worth rejoicing about.

The Annunciation, when Mary said yes to God, yes to giving birth to his Son is such an important part of the Christmas story.

When the Angel Gabriel visited Mary the first words that he used where “Rejoice, highly favoured woman.” Before Mary knows what was going on, she is told to rejoice! The Angel Gabriel shows Mary and us that what is about to happen is something that should fill us all with joy.

Mary responds with the words “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” Mary willingly said yes to God.

Mary’s yes to God should be an example to us all! Mary put her trust in God and so should we. We should strive each day to say yes to God, even if it’s something we think will be difficult. Mary wouldn’t have thought it was easy to have a child whose Father was not the man she was engaged to. Placing our trust in God and trying our best to let him guide us in our lives, saying yes to God, will ultimately lead us to who we are meant to be and what we are meant to be doing.

When the pink candle is lit at Mass today remember the joyfulness that is coming and try to say yes to God, just like Mary did. If you do that, you your own heart will be filled with joy.

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