Gaudete Sunday

Also known a the Third Sunday of Advent!  Gaudete refers to the message of today's readings...REJOICE!!!

After this last Friday, it may seem like there is not a lot to rejoice in this world where children are gunned down in a place they should feel safe.  I don't know about you, but I cannot get this event out of my head.  There are many reasons why this feels so close to me...as a mother...a teacher...raising a child with Asperger's Syndrome...homeschooling...and just a caring human being!  All of these various roles converge into one as I look at the details of this story.  And it is not just a story that we can read about and ignore.

I have such a sense of emotion about the situation at hand that I almost feel like I am right there in Connecticut grasping for straws to explain why this kind of thing has to happen!

Did the times of the prophets and Apostles have it any easier?  Did they have reason to rejoice more than we do?  Times have not changed so much from 2000 years ago and yet we are told to REJOICE!  It is easy to ask, "Why are we rejoicing?"

We rejoice because Jesus is our Messiah!  HE will free us from the sins of this world!  So, in spite of the horrors that we have in this world...from Connecticut...to the ends of the world...and sometimes within our own homes...we can look in hope of our Savior setting us free from such as this!

In the first reading at Mass:  "Be glad and exult with all your heart...the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst...Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged" (Zep 3:14-18)  Hearing these words does bring comfort...such splendid timing that only God could provide.

And then, as if in prayer with all of us in our sorrow, the second reading brings hope from Paul's writings:


Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians  4:4-7)

And then, as if to move us forward...past our own short failings, we read from the Gospel of Luke to continue the story of John the Baptist from last week...the crowds are coming to John in hopes that HE is the Messiah...asking the question we often ask ourselves:  "What should we do?"  What is the next step in being better at answering our call from God?  John patiently answers their cry for help with simple answers. (Luke 3:10-18)

We can also look to our own position in life and ask ourselves, "What should we do?"  AND...then as our wise priest told us today..."Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)  Listen for God's call in our lives through a close relationship with God in prayer.

The boys and I actually had some time to think about the Gospel this morning before Mass.  After closing their eyes and hearing the reading, I asked them what they thought John the Baptist would say to them if they were the ones asking the question, "What should we do?"  The boys gave answers like, "Obey my parents." and "Be nice to others."  However, they also said that they thought they should try to help those in Connecticut.  I was happy to hear that they wanted to share  God's peace with those so far away.  This idea continued after Mass as we were heading home, I asked what they wanted to do for Christmas this year.  They all agreed that they wanted to help send blessings to the families who were affected.  I am not sure where this will lead but I think we now have our focus for the remainder of Advent and into the Christmas season.  We will see how this unfolds.

At this time, each of the boys is writing a letter to send to the elementary school in Connecticut.  They are also talking a bout sending a donation for a memorial.  Of course, we continue to pray as well.  I am also going to talk to Michael and Amanda about what they think we can do so it is truly a family project.

Zaira was pleased to be able to add the ox to the nativity scene today...Lead the ox to the crib. Obey cheerfully without making excuses and without asking "Why?"..."I will obey for love of You, Jesus. Amen."

Oh...this is an interesting 'coincidence' for the day!...we were so focused on the families in Connecticut.  As stated above, we cannot forge the message of the Messiah...Just as we recall that the "Lord is near!"...we must also recall that God weeps with us...Our Jesse Tree ornament today was an image of tears falling in sorrow.  The story was from the prophet Jeremiah...In this case, the Lord weeps when the Chosen People return to worship false gods. (Jeremiah 8:21-22)

In last night's blog, I hinted at a big job for today...unfortunately it did not happen.  I was a little disappointed (and the boys were A LOT!) but it is not the end of the world.  We were supposed to set up our tree today...just the tree...the ornaments will be added a little at a time through the remainder of Advent.  HOWEVER, the house needed a little rearranging in order for this to happen.  The boys were a little too wound up to get that part of the task done so I had to hold back...not try to do it on my own and not expect perfection (my main goal for this Advent season in hopes that it will carry through into the New Year!) in my BIG PLAN!

SIDENOTE:  Not that I go around talking about my confessions all the time...but today we had a guest priest come to our little church to hear confessions.  I was blessed to be able to slip into the confessional without little ones knocking on the door...yes this has happened!...AND, after hearing my confession, the priest gave me the wise advice to relax and recall that my actions and more importantly my REactions to life's mishaps are being observed by my children.  He told me it is better to not expect so much and think about how I want my children to grow up into adults who can handle stress well.  It was like a little tap on the cheek from God to remind me of my desire to control my temper and avoid pride in my planning.  Thank you, Jesus!  I will probably need that 2x4 before I truly learn this lesson...but I am going to try harder!

SO...we will try again tomorrow to begin the decorating.  We did begin our Holy Family's journey tonight.  This is when we place Mary and Joseph in the first room furthest from the nativity set...they begin their journey around our house before arriving on Christmas Eve in the stable.  We try to clean each room before the Holy Family enters...each night they enter a different CLEAN room in the hopes that the entire house will have a deep cleaning before Christmas.

Also, I cannot help but confess a little bit of regret in our day.  I was going to avoid mentioning this but as I thought about it throughout the typing of the post, I feel like I need to make a confession.  Today, we went to a Christmas party...full blown...secular event that I WISH I could wipe from our memory...not a bad event but as I told the boys as we were driving away...it is so against all that we believe that I will never go back again.  A party that happens every year for the children of an organization (name intentionally left out!).  I try every year to see the good of this event and it really comes down to this...we must choose ways to solidify the message of Christmas in our children...if we do not do this we only confuse them.  I made a bad choice...I knew it was a bad choice and I placed my children in a secular atmosphere that I knew to avoid!  I hate that because I knew better.  I thought I would share so you do not think I have all this figured out...it is not always easy to turn away from the things of this world...and it is not always easy to explain it to children once you have place images in their minds.  AND, I had to do a lot of explaining on the way home today!

We ended the evening with Jesus of Nazareth...tonight the focus was on the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20).  These are a few thoughts we reflected on:

• The shepherds would have been the closest in physical location to the manger.
• They were the closest in respect to life's position...poor and simple lives.
• The shepherd's were watchful (just as we learned in Habakkuk last night!)..as we should be in receiving God's call.
• The shepherds remind us of the lineage of David who was in fact a shepherd before his anointing.
• And, this leads to our understanding of Jesus being our Good Shepherd.

Then Ratzinger writes about the message from the angels.  We just heard from a friend not to long ago that the Bible never mentions that the angels sang to the shepherds...in this account from Luke it does indeed read, the angels "praised God saying, Glory to God in the highest..."  However, throughout Christianity it is believed that "the speech of angels is actually song," according to Ratzinger.  This makes sense in this case especially as they are rejoicing at the birth of Jesus...no better way to pronounce one's joy!  The often disputed (in translation) message continued: "...and on earth peace to men of good pleasure!"  This translation is chosen as correct by Ratzinger because it references to the baptism of Jesus when the voice from heaven says, "You are my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased! (Luke 3:22)"  The man whom He is well pleased is Jesus in both accounts.

Again all of these reflections are very interesting and really have us looking at the details of the text to have a better understanding of the event which than (hopefully!) bring us closer to Jesus.  So much to REJOICE in the day!  Another early night to bed for the boys.  What's not to rejoice about that happening?...LOL!