Dear friends in Christ

The title of this Third Sunday of Advent takes its name from the Entrance Antiphon—or Introit—of the Mass: Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Dominus enim prope est…Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. And this same joy is proclaimed again in the Epistle of the Mass by Saint Paul writing to the Philippians.

This is the joy proposed to us by the closeness of God as we begin the second half of Advent, focusing our attention on the coming of the Saviour. In a world which often appears so sunk in despair, strife and hardship, the optimism of the coming of Jesus is the bright light of hope: firstly in the history of humanity, and then in our own lives, so much in need of redemption.

We listen to the voice, the words, of Saint John the Baptist again in the Gospel of the Mass; a voice that speaks as clearly to us today as it did to those who flocked to hear him over twenty centuries ago. His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with an unquenchable fire. This is the clearest exhortation ever for us to repent and believe the Gospel—repent and prepare to receive Christ. As we approach Christmas we do this in the definite way that Jesus has left to His Church: in and through the Sacrament of Reconciliation—Confession. We can begin our examination of conscience right now, thinking about how we will approach Jesus in His Sacrament of Mercy, and so make a clear way in our hearts and lives for the coming of Christ into our world and into our lives.

Next Sunday—the Fourth of Advent—we have the traditional blessing of the figures of the Baby Jesus for our Cribs; please bring them along to Mass next weekend (and all of the Crib figures too if you wish!) and they will be blessed.

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale