Today, Mass presiders will wear “somewhat” pink vestments, not a political color of course, but a liturgical one because it is “Gaudete Sunday.”

The name Gaudete means “Joy” and it highlights the theme that we focus on this Sunday during this time of Advent in preparation for the coming joy and celebration at Christmas — among the themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. 

The name Gaudete comes from the Introit of this Gaudete Sunday, which goes like this: “Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete,” which means “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice.” 

And this invites us all to remember the coming great joy we are going to celebrate together at Christmas. Which is why as we focus on the expectation of the upcoming Joy of Christmas, this Sunday marks a relaxation of the usually more somber Advent tone.

Although the Second Coming of Jesus is certain, He said it will not happen very soon or immediately, lest His disciples think that it will happen immediately after He had ascended into Heaven, or that they become impatient waiting for the Lord’s return. 

And this is important because the people of God at the time of the ministry of the Apostles, to whom Saint James and the other Apostles had been ministering, were often facing lots of hardships, trials and challenges, rejections and persecutions from the authorities and the people around them, from the Jewish authorities and High Council, as well as from the pagans opposed to the inroads made by the Christian missionaries and the Roman state itself, which began to carry out official persecutions against Christians at the time.

Saint James the Apostle wants to remind us all, the faithful people of God, that while we may have to suffer in remaining faithful to God, in the end the Lord is always with us and we can expect joyfully and hopefully His return to this world — which is sure to happen — and we ought to have faith and trust in Him, no matter what. 

In this time and season of Advent we are constantly being reminded of this great Joy and all the Hope that we have in our Lord and Savior, knowing that surely everything will happen as He had foretold and assured to us repeatedly again and again — and each and every one of us as Christians ought to always embody this Joy within us, the true Joy of Christmas that we can find in Christ alone.

Finally, from our Gospel passage this Sunday, taken from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we hear about the moment the Lord Jesus was confronted by some of the disciples of John the Baptist who brought Him a message from the man of God himself. This was some time after John the Baptist had baptized the Lord at the River Jordan at the beginning of His earthly ministry.