Dear ZENIT Family,

The Third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday” or “Sunday of Joy.” “Gaudete is a Latin word and it means “Rejoice” or “Be joyful” (Philippians 4:4).

This joyful is reflected in a liturgical colour: the priest can be vested in pink. There are only two days in the liturgical calendar when this is possible: today and the Third Sunday of Lent. The reason for such a day in the middle of Advent and Lent is because in the past both liturgical periods had a more marked penitential connotation. We usually associate Lent with a time of fasting, prayer and penance, but Advent also shared the same features. The reason behind this was ascetic: to be able to come to a time of celebration (Easter or Christmas) it was worthwhile to prepare through personal moderation.

All of the above enables me to link the liturgical period with the Gospel of the day. The Church proposes to us the Gospel of John 1:6-8. 19-28). There is talk of John the Baptist there: it says who he was (God’s envoy), why he came (to bear witness to the light) and the reason for his coming (that all might believe through him). Then there is extensive talk on the witness he gave when the Jewish priests and Levites were sent to ask him who he was and what he had to say about himself. John the Baptist answers them saying “ I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” and he asks them to: “Make straight the way of the Lord.” When moments later he is asked why he baptizes if he is not the Messiah, in reality he does not answer, but announces: “among you stands One whom you do not know, even He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

What does all this have to do with joy and, even more so, with our own joy?

There are two great moments in a person’s life: the first is when he is born and the second is when he discovers for what. It’s not simply about “being here” and occupying a place in the world. Above all, it’s about knowing who is he who is here and also to discover for what. John knows who he is (God’s envoy) and he lives the mission that stems from this (for what he is here).

It so happens that today there is an opposite phenomenon in the life of many individuals. That they are here is a fact because they breathe, feel the need to eat, to rest, etc., they are alive. But so many times they don’t go beyond that fact. They don’t know who they are and why they are in this world. They let themselves go through life and this neither gives meaning nor happiness. This can also happen to many of us. And it’s understandable that something like this redounds in unhappiness and a lack of joy. One cannot go forward in life without knowing who one is and without experiencing the fulness that the living of the mission of life gives. In other words, be protagonists of one’s own series [of events].

A personal identity is made up of several factors. One of the most important is the fact that we are “children.” Jesus gave us the great gift of the revelation of God as “Father.” At Christmas we are also grateful for this gift: that Jesus comes to reveal God to us. One of the first identity clues is precisely this: to know that “we are children.” And if we have a Father like God then we are loved, there is Someone who is concerned about us, there is Someone who is interested in us, who desires are good, who waits for us, who forgives us, who encourages us. And that gives us great happiness, because then we also recognize that we are not alone. And that “not being alone” is also a source of joy.

That relationship with God opens us to communication with God. And whoever talks with God and listens to God ends by addressing relevant issues, such as the question why one is here. More than that: not only do we find that answer but also the company to fulfil the mission.

This is what we see in John and this is also what in a day like today we are invited to see in ourselves and to reflect with God. Because, although we are essentially the same, with the passing of time are circumstances of life change and thus also the way how in “this” moment of life the mission is realized.

Jewish priests and Levites went to John to ask him who he was and what he had to say about himself. His answer was not the direct revelation of identity but of his life’s mission. And his mission had to do with God. In other words, to the question of who he is, John the Baptist answers with his for what of life. It does us good to think that what we do can or cannot become not only in the answer about what each one of us is, but also who God is. And this, in a period like Advent and Christmas my goodness is it a noble task! It is so because many will know about God by what they see or do not see in us. And that before thinking of it in key of strangers must be thought in key of those at home, at work, etc. Hence, the proclamation is the effect of two answers now received: who we are and for what we are here. And my goodness can we “be joyful” because of this!