Gaudete!

11 Dec

“I am determined to enjoy each day to the fullest. I don’t want to wish away Christmas. I want to enjoy these last moments of Advent and look forward to Jesus’ birth with anticipation.” ~ Shelley Shepard Gray

Take a break! Aren’t those words you’ve longed to hear? Maybe you were working on a project for several hours. Maybe you were doing high-speed, high-energy sets for conditioning in a sport. Maybe you were working on a term paper. Whatever it was, there was a point where you wanted someone – a friend, an employer, or anyone – to tell you to take a break.

In that break, you allowed yourself a little downtime. You relaxed. You hydrated. You took yourself out of the zone for a while. Then, when you returned to what it was you were doing, you had newfound strength and energy to tackle your work.

The Church is telling us today to take a break. Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, is designed as a breather Sunday for us just as Laetare Sunday is for us in Lent. The theme of Gaudete Sunday is “Rejoice!”

Rejoice! Rejoice because you have made it through two weeks of Advent and have adhered to your promises to yourself. Rejoice because you only have two more weeks left to the celebration of Christmas. Rejoice because the season has been filled with grace and holiness. Or, simply rejoice because God loves you completely and unconditionally. That knowledge alone should be enough to keep you going the next two weeks.

FAITH ACTION: Let your heart be filled with joy today as you consider the coming of Christmas and let that joy carry you through the next two weeks of Advent.