Gaudete in Domino semper. (Rejoice in the Lord always)
I really enjoy Gaudete Sunday, as indeed we are supposed to. What's not to like about rejoicing?!
It does make a difference having the 'proper' rose-coloured vestments. We will have beautiful flowers in church again tomorrow after a bare-looking sanctuary for the past couple of Sundays, and I'm sure we shall have some lovely joyful hymns too.
It does us all good to have this Sunday of joyful encouragement to persevere with our spiritual preparations for the arrival of Our Saviour at Christmas
It's very tempting to get out the decorations and the lights etc. etc. and get into the full swing of Christmas as many of our neighbours here seem to be doing already but we still have two more full weeks to wait. I am happy to focus on Advent for a while longer. We have our Advent wreath at home and shall light the rose-coloured candle tomorrow.
I do like the quote from Pope Benedict in the CTS Sunday Missal that introduces tomorrow's Mass (at least it does in my version of the Missal. I assume it is the same for all editions).
"What does 'the Lord is at hand' mean? In what sense must we understand this 'closeness' of God? The Church, illumined by the Holy Spirit, already at that time understood increasingly better that God's 'closeness' is not a question of space and time but rather of love: love brings people together! This coming Christmas will remind us of this fundamental truth of our faith and in front of the manger we shall be able to savour Christian joy contemplating in the newborn Jesus the Face of God who made himself close to us out of love."
NB. Photo above is of last year's wreath as we shan't light our 'rose' candle until tomorrow, although as it's past time for Vespers I suppose we could light it now.
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