Greetings in Christ!
God bless you all on this, the Third Sunday of Advent or, as the Church calls it Gaudette Sunday (gow-dah-tay).
Gaudette means “rejoice” and we are invited to reflect on this passage:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” -Philippians 4:4-5
We rejoice because the Lord is near. In his birth He showed His commitment to this relationship; going to radical extremes to blend our humanity with His divinity. If God loves us that much, how much more should we be loving each other? People who encounter us should see us as different because of our gentleness with each other.
In short, if our relationship with Jesus doesn’t compel us to treat everyone with such gentleness that all can see it, then we might not have a relationship with Jesus at all.
Rejoice! Jesus is on our side! He has thrown His lot in with the human race and, as a result, Heaven is a possibility for any who cling to Him.
Rejoice because He will return and all will be set right.
Rejoice because we are offered a chance to place all these battles we fight with each other in the context of our eternal existence after death: there are very few issues or realities in which we would abandon gentleness with each other because of that context.
Let’s be gentle with each other.
Let’s ask Jesus for the grace to be gentle even with those we do not like, with those who hold positions we find repugnant, with those who mistreat the people we love and with those who mistreat us.
Let’s be strong enough and secure enough in Jesus to choose gentleness.
God bless you all. You are an answer to my prayers.
Fjk