The Third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday and takes its name from the Latin version of the Entrance Antiphon used on this Sunday:  “Gaudete in Domino semper” - “rejoice in the Lord always.”

The importance of joy in Christian discipleship is tremendous enough that homilists, catechists, and theologians alike take great care to make a distinction between mere happiness and true joy.  In a nutshell, while happiness is fleeting and dependent on external circumstances, joy is enduring and is born from the grace of God within us.

As put by Saint Josemaria Escriva, Christian joy “comes from the abandonment of everything and the abandonment of yourself into the loving arms of our Father.”  And yet, it can be hard for us to abandon ourselves to God.

Christian joy is born from the knowledge and understanding that we are children of God, which we glean from cultivating our faith and nurturing our hope.  If we want our faith and hope to be strong enough to bear the fruit of joy, we must make tremendous efforts to grow spiritually and immerse ourselves in the mission before us to build up the Kingdom in Verdun.

As we light the rose candle and rejoice in the Lord’s coming ever closer, let us also open our hearts to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with the courage we need to keep diving deeper into the waters of discipleship through our Missionary Partnership.