Luke 3:10-18
“Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.” (Luke 3:18)
“Rejoice!” This is the theme and invocation of our readings and the liturgy today, this Gaudete Sunday. In the midst of this penitential season and our continued waiting, Mother Church implores us to rejoice.
We hear in the Gospel passage John calling on the people to non-extraordinary means of reorienting their faith and lives back to the Lord. And something about this man in the wilderness draws tax collectors, pagan soldiers, and faithful Jews alike. They come because they are desperately longing for salvation. They are each well aware of their needs and desires for something greater than themselves to free them from suffering and oppression, and to bring about change in their lives.
In Advent we are all hopefully sharing this same clarity of understanding, realizing all the preparation is a movement from our need for salvation. Humbly recognizing the infinite needs and desires of our hearts are made to find fulfillment through an infinite God who comes so low to enter into our lives. I have been especially moved by the first reading from Zepheniah. Yes we are called to rejoice, but also it is the Lord who rejoices in bringing salvation to his beloved people. He is the one who has also waited, who also is longing, and whose heart is also set aflame with his desire to fulfill the beloved.
As we follow the Holy Spirit in reorienting our lives and faith life back to the Lord this season, let us also rejoice in the good news that John the Baptist knows; that we do all this because He who first loved us is coming, and He is awaiting infinitely more to be welcomed in our hearts and to bring salvation than we can even imagine. We rejoice because He first rejoices over us, and we thus make the way ready in our hearts to welcome Him.
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