“Rejoice!” by Karen Theckston, Fiat Ventures
Third Sunday of Advent
I’m not a fan of having to wait for things. Our culture has spoiled us a bit when it comes to waiting. With our phones, so much is present to us literally in the palm of our hands! We can get answers to any question from Siri and we get notifications about whatever is trending that day. We can drive up to a fast food place and have a meal in front of us within seconds, and I don’t remember the last time I had to wait in line at my bank because of an app that lets me do everything.
But there are so many things that are worth waiting for! Maybe it’s the new iPhone or gaming system that you’re anticipating, a family vacation that you’ve had a role in planning or a special occasion. I had to wait 386 days to marry my husband after he proposed. 386 days of planning and preparing for that was to be the most magical day of my life. If you have an older sibling or family member that recently got married, or have attended a wedding, you might know how much preparation goes into it. There’s the invitations, looking for a venue, cake and food tasting, meeting with DJs and photographers, 5 dress fittings and do not get me started on the seating chart. It was over a year of a million phone calls to different venders, countless emails and many days of trying to convince my fiancé that we should kidnap a priest and get married the next day.
I didn’t want to wait any longer. I wanted the planning to be over and I just wanted to be married. But that’s not quite how life works… and besides, where does our faith fit into all that planning? We were about to celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony and start this new and exciting journey with each other and God, but it was so easy to forget what is was all about in the midst of everything. We prayed and went to Mass together but it wasn’t until a couple weeks before the wedding that we paused everything and took time to reflect on the joy of the Sacrament.
For many of us, Advent can be like my wedding planning experience. We’re so busy running around Christmas shopping, scheduling all the Ugly Sweater and White Elephant parties we’re attending and making sure that everything is perfect and ready for our big family Christmas dinner, that we may forget what it is that we’re actually doing all this for. Advent is the season of preparing for the arrival of Jesus, and by the third Sunday, we’re almost there! The Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday, gives us that pause and reminds us to REJOICE as we prepare the way of the Lord. On this day we see the pink or rose candle and pink vestments that the priests wear that remind us to do this. In the readings, we hear the promises that God has for us and reminds us to be filled with joy because He is near.
My wedding day turned out perfectly. The ceremony was the most beautiful Mass I’ve ever experienced and the ultimate joy my husband and I felt that day was a quick glimpse of what heaven will look like one day. It was well worth the wait (all 386 days of it!). With Christmas just eight days away, I challenge you to pause, and rejoice in all the fact that well, Christmas is only eight days away!!