gaudete sunday liturgical reflections · the gaudete theme: “shout, and sing for joy, o...

Philippians 4:4-7

The Lord is near.

Rejoice in the Lord

always; again I will say,

Rejoice. Let all men

know your forbearance.

The Lord is at hand.

Have no anxiety about

a ny t h i n g , b u t in

everything by prayer and

s u p p l i c a t i o n w i t h

thanksgiving let your

requests be made known

to God. And the peace of

God, which passes all

understanding, will keep

your hearts and your

minds in Christ Jesus.

Gospel "What shall we do?" Luke 3:10-18

And the multitudes asked him, "What then shall we do?" And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let

him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Tax collectors also came to be

baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by

false accusation, and be content with your wages."

As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the

thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His

winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he

will burn with unquenchable fire." So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.

Liturgical Reflections

GAUDETE SUNDAY

Zephaniah 3:14-18a He will rejoice over you with

shouts of joy.

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult

with all your heart, O daughter of

Jerusalem! The LORD has taken

away the judgments against you,

he has cast out your enemies. The

King of Israel, the LORD, is in

your midst; you shall fear evil no

more. On that day it shall be said

to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, O

Zion; let not your hands grow

weak. The LORD, your God, is in

your midst, a warrior who gives

victory; he will rejoice over you

with gladness, he will renew you

in his love; he will exult over you

with loud singing as on a day of

festival.

[PSALM]

I SAIAH 12:2 -6

RESPONSE: CRY OUT WITH JOY

AND GLADNESS: FOR AMONG YOU IS

THE GREAT AND HOLY O NE OF

I SRAEL.

You will say in that day: "I will give

thanks to thee, O LORD, for though

thou wast angry with me, thy anger

turned away, and thou didst comfort

me. "Behold, God is my salvation; I

will trust, and will not be afraid; for

the LORD GOD is my strength and

my song, and he has become my

salvation." With joy you will draw

water from the wells of salvation. And

you will say in that day: "Give thanks

to the LORD, call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the

nations, proclaim that his name is

exalted. "Sing praises to the LORD,

for he has done gloriously; let this be

known in all the earth. Shout, and sing

for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for Holy

One of Israel."

16TH December 2012

CRY O UT WITH JOY AND G LADNESS: TH E LO RD IS NEAR

By Fr. David Fomanka NKONG

Gospel Acclamation Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor

REFLECTION Today the Liturgy recommends the use of a

rose coloured vestment instead of violet. The

idea is to highlight the element of rejoicing, a

concept from which this Sunday takes its name:

Gaudete Sunday, or Sunday of Rejoicing. The

expression Gaudete (Rejoice) constitutes the

first word of the Introit: “Gaudete in Domino

semper: iterum dico, gaudete: Dominus prope

est.” [Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say,

rejoice: the Lord is near”]. Yes, Christmas is

at the corner. The Lord is at hand.

In the Liturgy of the word today, the

Church presents before us the prophetic

message of Zephaniah, a prophet who is

associated with the early years of the reign of

Josiah, and who preceded and influenced

Jeremiah. At this time the worship of false

gods, namely, the sun, the moon and the stars,

and the existence of court ministers loyal to the

regime of Assyria received condemnation from the

prophet. The prophet Zephaniah confronted rites that

were totally foreign to the monotheistic traditions of the Patriarchs and Moses and spoke of the approaching

judgment on the day of the Lord, when the Lord will

come to judge the nations and pronounce condemnation

on His enemies. However, while the Prophet

reprimanded the people, he also announced the Promise

in spite of the unfaithfulness of Judah. This is due to the

mercy which the Lord will exhibit, causing Him to

spare a holy remnant, a group that will enjoy peace.

What we have for our reflection today is an excerpt of the shouts of joy which the restored remnants would

sing. From this hymn the Liturgy draws the theme of

joy and places it within the context of divine clemency,

restoration, redemption, or liberation: “Sing aloud, O

daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult

with all your hearts, O daughter of Jerusalem! The

Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has

cast out your enemies.” But the Prophet sees something

more: he pictures the Lord in the midst of Israel, with

such a presence, every fear of evil disappears, because

Israel will again embrace “theocracy”: The Lord will be

their King. As King, the Lord in the midst of Israel will be

the one fighting on their behalf during battle. He will be the

one guaranteeing victory for His chosen people. He, the

Lord will also rejoice over Zion with gladness, renewing

Zion in His love, exulting over Jerusalem amidst loud

hymns of joy in the manner of a festival. The prophet is

thinking of the Day of Judgment which the Lord will one

day hold to receive back from His enemies the fallen

children of His. This is Good news and demands that Israel

prepares, and looks forward in hope for that victorious and

liberating day.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.

Indeed, the Lord is near.” Philippians 4:4-5

[Entrance Antiphon]

O God, who see how your people faithfully

await the feast of the Lord's Nativity, enable us,

we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn

worship and glad rejoicing. [Collect - Advent III]

THIS WEEK LIGHT THREE CANDLES

Advent Wreath

The Responsorial Psalm is taken from the

Book of the Prophet Isaiah. He is equally talking

of the restoration of Israel, envisaging a Day when the Lord will make a highway from Assyria

similar to the path of the exodus. In connection

with this day, the Prophet notes as Zephaniah

does, of the reversal of situations. In a similar

hymn of thanksgiving, Israel is made to sing as an

individual, thanking the Lord for letting go of His

anger and replacing it with a heart that is

consoling. The Liturgy presents us with the hymn

acknowledging God as the personal liberator of the one who has been redeemed. In this way, the

saved Israelite pledges his trust in God and

declares how his fear has been eliminated, thanks

to the kind of person he now considers God to be:

“My Strength, My Song, My Salvation”,

reminiscent of the song of victory sung by Israel

after crossing the Sea of Reeds.

The Prophet sees this liberation time as a

moment of joyful drawing of water from the wellsprings of salvation. This is a way of

speaking to indicate the direct access God’s saved

people will have to the source of all life, to the

spring that vivifies, cleanses and makes whole.

The Day of the Lord, which we await therefore,

will be a day of thanksgiving, a day when we

shall offer petitions calling on the Lord’s name

with a surety that will guarantee prompt reply. In

turn, we shall make know God’s might deeds to

the nations; proclaiming not our names, our

merits and our abilities, but the glorious name of

God. We shall acknowledge Him as the true Lord

who deserves all praise, exaltation and

thanksgiving.

As we await His coming, we must be ready

too to "Sing praises to the LORD” who does

glorious things for us. We too must be ready to

make His good deeds known to all the earth. The

Psalm then sounds the rejoicing cry in keeping with

the Gaudete theme: “Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy

One of Israel.”

The rejoicing we are called to manifest today,

therefore, is about the Divine presence and its

implications for those who play host to the King, the

warrior and the redeemer. St. Paul, in his Letter to the

Philippians announces Advent as a time of Divine

proximity: “The Lord is at hand”. He sounds a

persistent call to constant rejoicing in the Lord as a consequence and a worthy response to this Good

news. It is true that when we expect the Lord to bring

us liberation, there is a danger that we may grow

impatient. The apostle to the Gentiles insists that our

joy must be constant so much so that all peoples may

know how patient we have been.

Patient waiting in a spirit of rejoicing is what the

Liturgy of today is highlighting. The one who is

patient, who forbears, is free from every fears, every form of distress, all anxieties as he waits in joyful

hope for the coming of the Saviour. The one who lives

in enduring vigilance and hopefulness is constant in

prayer and entreats the Lord in a spirit of

thanksgiving. Only in this way do our hearts find

peace. Only in this manner do we gain understanding

and accept every condition we live in as founded and

built in Jesus Christ. Only in this way will our

rejoicing at His coming lead us to reap the right fruits

which the joy of Christmas brings.

The Acclamation to the Gospel: “The Spirit of the

Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring

glad tidings to the poor”, reminds us that those who

Advent 17 - 25th December

are the beneficiaries of the glad tidings; those who are destined to receive the Lord who comes as the

Anointed of God, the Spirit bearer, the Messiah are those who are poor. Scripturally, poverty here must

make us reflect on both our material and spiritual status. We need to rethink the way we prepare to receive the Lord at Christmas and correct the errors we make in thinking that it is a rich, expensive or

materialistic preparation that counts more than the call to put on poverty and simplicity in order that we

are enriched by the true riches of the Divine Son, who comes with His gifts at Christmas: above all the

gift of His Holy Spirit, the gift of Humility, the gift of lowliness.

The Gospel has the crucial leading question: so, “What shall we do?” It is a question addressed to

John the Baptist as he cries out in the wilderness asking that we prepare and receive his baptism of

repentance for the forgiveness of sins. For John, therefore, preparation for Christmas has a moral import.

It has a practical implication. It demands a daily response that must affect attitudes of those who mean to

wait in a genuine spirit of rejoicing. Joy and the just life are necessarily complimentary. He tells the multitude who asks him this guiding question: “What shall we do?” to share, not in a lavished manner of

giving all and staying with nothing, not even in the manner

of giving our excesses, but of making sure that what can go

for two goes for two, the self inclusive: “He who has two goats…let him share with him who has none.” John’s

counsels hold good for any material, intellectual, spiritual or

other such shareable gifts.

The preparatory Christmas rejoicing admits of kind

consideration for the wellbeing of the neighbor. It demands

that any such practices that open us to a life of cheating,

extortion and exploitation, be it in the economic, political,

judicial, religious systems or even in our day to day dealings

with others, need to be eliminated. John is emphatic and direct. To tax-collectors he says:“Collect no more than is

appointed you.” To soldiers the harbinger decries acts of

terrorism, vandalism, violent robbery or wrong acquisition of

other’s property or even reputation through false accusation.

These are the societal ills that rob the weak and the

vulnerable of their cause for rejoicing. When we question

why there is roadside bribery, many often think it is because

the law-enforcement officers are not well paid. John is aware

that even from his time, those who tend to extort can conveniently be contented with what they receive as their

wages. We need to set greed aside.

Why must all these preparations be made? Luke justifies

this call as he invites all to reflect on the difference between

John and Jesus Christ. In this Gospel, John is placed in the

sequence of Prophetic figures and his teaching will become

material for Christ to use against the Pharisees and the elders

of the people. We have seen how in admonishing the crowd

he brings out one of Luke's favourite characteristics, the right use of possessions as an important step towards accepting the

coming Christ. We have also noted how John calls on his

hearers to give up extortion, blackmail, wrong acquisition of

wealth, accumulation and so on. The haves must share with

the have-nots.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and

with fire” (Jesus’ Baptism)

Now, in defining the role of John, Luke causes us

to meet John as a precursor to Christ, a harbinger, a

forerunner, a herald of the Messiah. We clearly see the superiority Jesus commands over John in the

latter’s own declarations: "I baptize you with water;

but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of

whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will

baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Hence, the strength and the nature of baptism they

administer marks the superiority of the coming Christ.

The self-description or attributes of John to himself as

an unworthy servant helps the superiority-inferiority emphasis. Indeed, John insists that those who would

fail to respond positively to the prophetic call to

prepare for the coming of the Messiah, will be like

unfruitful trees that are cut off at the roots or like

winnowed chaff blown away by the wind.

Who can determine if one’s preparation is proper

or not? The Collect of the celebration of today

answers this question. It address God as that one who

sees how His people faithfully await the feast of the Nativity of Christ. In this way, the Church means to

take away any form of deception, since, we are not

preparing to please people around us, but to be

faithful to the Covenant relationship that exists

between us and God. It is for this reason that the

Father is implored to enable us, His chosen people, to

come to the joys of so great a gift of salvation and to

cause us to celebrate this moment - as we are now

doing - with solemn worship and glad rejoicing. May

this prayer be heard again by the Father, and may He

grant our requests this advent to the glory of His

Name.

INTERCESSIONS FROM THE LITURGY

OF THE HOURS - VESPERS WK 1 & 3

We pray to the Lord who is the way, the

truth and the life

R/ Come, and remain with us, Lord

Gabriel announced your coming to the

Virgin Mary: Son of the Most High,

come to claim your kingdom. R/

John the Baptist rejoiced to see your

day: come, bring us your salvation. R/

Simeon acknowledged you, Light of

the World: bring your light to all

people of goodwill. R/

We look for you as watchmen look for

the dawn: you are the sun that will

wake the dead to new life. R/

READINGS WITHIN THE WEEK–

PRIVILEGED SEASON

Monday 17: Gn 49:2,8-10

Mt 1:1-17

Tuesday 18: Jer 23:5-8

Mt 1:18-25

Wednesday 19: Jgs 13:2-7,24-25a

Lk 1:5-25

Thursday 20: Is 7:10-14

Lk 1:26-38

Friday 21: Sg 2:8-14 or Zep 3:14-18a

Lk 1:39-45

Saturday 22: 1Sm 1:24-28

Lk 1:46-56

Rejoice in the Lord always

<Fr. Dav id Nkon g>

Copy right © <2 012> by <Nkong>All Rights Reserv ed

Soprano

Alto

Tenor

Bass

Re joice- in the Lord, al ways,- a gain- I say, re -

aG =80

f k k k k k z ks i ks k k k k z ks


a f k k k k k z ks i ks k k k k z ks


b fk k k k k z k

ti k

t k k k k z kt

Re joice- in the Lord, al ways,- a gain- I say, re-

b f k k k k k ks ks i k k k k k

joice.- The Lord is at hand. Re joice- in the Lord, al ways,-

a f j k k k k i k k k k k z ks i

joice.- The Lord is at hand.



b fj k k k k i k k k k k z k

ti


b f j k k k k i k k k k k ks ks i

Soprano

Alto

Tenor

Bass

a gain- I say, re joice.- In deed,- He is near. Let

a f ks k k k k z ks j k k k k j z ks J kt

a f ks k k k k z ks j k k k k j z ks J o

a gain- I say, re joice.- In deed,- He is near.

b fkt k k k k z k

tj k k k k j z k

t J o


b f k k k k k j k k k k j z kt J o

all know thy mer cy,- The Lord is at hand. Have no an xi- e- ties.- In deed,- He is near.

a f k k k k k ks k k k j k k k k ks k z k k k k j

a f m z o ks k k k j l k k k k j

The Lord is at hand. In deed,- He is near.

b f m z o ktk k k j l k k k k j

b f l l l l

Soprano

Alto

Tenor

Bass





b fk k k k k z k

ti k

t k k k k z kt

Re joice- in the Lord, al ways,- a gain- I say, re-

b f k k k k k ks ks i k k k k k





b fj k k k k i k k k k k z k

ti


b f j k k k k i k k k k k ks ks i

Soprano

Alto

Tenor

Bass


a f ks k k k k z ks j k k k k j z ks(3)J

a f ks k k k k z ks j k k k k j z ks J


b fkt k k k k z kt

j k k k k j z kt J


b f k k k k k j k k k k j z kt J

2. Let all know thy mercy, the Lord is at hand

Have no anxieties. Indeed, He is near. Refrain

3. By pray'r and supplication, In everything gives thanks

And the God of peace, will keep you in His Love. Refrain

4. Be blameless before Him, The Lord is at hand.

Make firm your hearts, Indeed, He is near. Refrain

5. Behold the Judge is knocking, He's standing at the gates

He who calls is coming, Indeed, He is near. Refrain

gaudete sunday liturgical reflections · the gaudete theme: “shout, and sing for joy, o...

Documents