Gaudete Sunday – The Noontimes

Philippians 4:4-7: Celebrate!

Choir-Medieval-Ladies — *Jan Van Eyck: Heavenly Choirs (detail)*

Third Sunday of Advent, December 11, 2022

Gaudete Sunday

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

If only we might celebrate that the Light of the World is among us in this way. If only we might live our lives as a demonstration of our belief that the Healer of all walks with us. If only we might call others to rejoice that the Rescuer from fear, anxiety and desperation lives in us.

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Visit the links below and explore other renditions of this ancient celebration of the coming of Christ. Send the link of your favorite performance to family and friends and encourage them to celebrate with you!

Aúna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbKWk6RzaiM

Choir of Clare College Cambridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1NgHonWNE0

Prima Luce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFtppysEl-k

The King’s Singers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KSxg9Ij5r8

Libera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=447ZTXdDODQ

To learn about Medieval Music, click on the musicians image or visit: http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-music/waits.htm

vaneyck_lamgods_engelen — *Jan Van Eyck: Heavenly Choirs*

Images from: http://www.thecultureconcept.com/circle/sound-of-music-poets-celebrate-creation-psalms-to-polyphony and http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-music/waits.htm and http://novembrance.blogspot.com/2008/12/heavenly-choirs.html

December 11, 2022

Gaudete Sunday, joy

Joy and Ecclesiastes 5:17-19 – Vanity

Third Sunday of Advent

December 12, 2021

Joy and

Ecclesiastes 5:17-19

Vanity

We continue our reflection on joy in the Books of Wisdom and for the next few days we spend time with Ecclesiastes, verses that focus on the purpose and value of human life. Joy in merit, material wealth, pleasure of every kind evades the human race when chased. The mystery is that truly fulfilling and lasting joy comes upon us when we least expect it – and when we find ourselves in the most trying of circumstances. If this week’s Noontimes call you to search for more ways to encounter joy, click on the word Joy in the categories cloud in the blog’s right hand sidebar and choose a reflection, or enter the word Joy in the blog search bar. Today joy surprises us when we find ourselves overwhelmed by the world’s vanities.

The Book of Ecclesiastes is often remembered for its opening words: Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! Through centuries we humans have sought the mystery of joy and continue to find that try joy arrives with most impact in times of sorrow or loss. We are constantly learning that we cannot earn joy; rather, joy finds us when we most need and appreciate it.

Ecclesiastes 5:17-19: Here is what I see as good: It is appropriate to eat and drink and prosper from all the toil one toils at under the sun during the limited days of life God gives us; for this is our lot. Those to whom God gives riches and property, and grants power to partake of them, so that they receive their lot and find joy in the fruits of their toil: This is a gift from God. For they will hardly dwell on the shortness of life, because God lets them busy themselves with the joy of their heart.

Compare the MESSAGE version of this passage at the scripture link above that begins with verse 13: Here’s a piece of bad luck I’ve seen happen: A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him and then loses it all in a bad business deal. He fathered a child but hasn’t a cent left to give him. He arrived naked from the womb of his mother; he’ll leave in the same condition—with nothing. This is bad luck, for sure—naked he came, naked he went. So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke? Continue reading and allow the Word to resonate within until the mystery of finding joy in misery rather than in our stockpiled treasures begins to speak in our hearts. Consider that all joy is a gift from God, shows us God’s presence, and lifts, sustains and renews us . . . without our even asking.

In some Christian traditions, the Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. Enter the word Gaudete into the blog search bar and reflect on the nourishing joy that comes from God to renew and sustain us in the darkest of days. Find out more about Gaudete Sunday at this link: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06394b.htm

While reflecting, listen to the Medieval Latin Carol Gaudete arranged by Michael McGlynn and sung by ANÚNA posted on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbKWk6RzaiM As the ancient words resonate, allow them to awaken joy within . . . Rejoice! Christ is born of the Virgin Mary! The light, the truth, the healer, the Word is among us.

This week, let us look for joy in a controversial issue that consumes our local or global world. It may be a topic that reverberates through the global community or it may be a problem that you share with a few friends, family members or neighbors. No matter the range or depth of this concern, turn it over in light of the week’s Noontime readings and allow the joy that is hidden in great darkness to spring upon you.

Visit the ANÚNA site at: http://www.anuna.ie/

For more information about anxiety and joy, visit: http://riselikeair.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/anxiety-joy-a-journey/

For the lyrics to the carol Gaudete and another music video, click on the Nativity image above or visit: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2012/12/gaudetechristus-est-natus/

Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.781. Print.

Image from: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2012/12/gaudetechristus-est-natus/

December 12, 2021

Gaudete Sunday, joy

Psalm 90: God’s Eternity, Our Frailty

Psalm 90: God’s Eternity, Our Frailty

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

As we close another year and look forward to the new, let us reflect on the promise of Christmas, and all that it holds for us.

Some of the images in this psalm may be ones we do not like to think about. Who among us likes to be reminded of our shortcomings? And who likes the imagery of such a wrath-filled God? I heard a sermon once about God’s jealousy about us. The speaker referred to this psalm and likened God to a lover who has just found out about the partner’s infidelity.

In the old Latin liturgical calendar, we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, a time when joy leaps out of the readings in anticipation of the coming of Christ. Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10, Psalm 146, James 5:7-20 and Matthew 11:2-11, in each of these citations we find reason to rejoice. The true king is arriving soon. This king heals, protects, guides and secures. This king loves in a way we do not see in the Old Testament. This king fulfills the promises of old. This king is devoted to his people, this king is Christ.

I am always amazed when I see human beings lust after immortality when they have this gift in their hands constantly yet do not see it. I have watched people destroy others as they scramble to the top of an illusory mountain to grab earth-bound fame. What matters a name on a concrete wall when our very being may instead be part of God’s own fabric? What is it we miss about ourselves that lures away from the promise we already hold and that has already been fulfilled, to turn to the emptiness of a plaque, a statue, or a commemorative dinner? What holds us so spellbound may be our belief in ourselves rather than a belief in God. Only each of us can judge what makes us so frail in this way.

Matthew 11:11 may startle us. We may not have understood just how much God really loves us unless we allow the full impact of these words rest in us. Do we have the potential to be greater even than John the Baptist? If our answer is no, then we may not have fully understood how much a gift each of us is to God’s creation and God’s plan. We may not have fully understood just how much we are loved. If our answer is yes, then we understand the passion expressed in today’s Noontime for when we read this psalm, we see how much God seethes with emotion when we turn away. And we can also see just how much we are loved. So let us make a conscious decision today, on this Sunday of Joy, to put aside our frailty and return this divine love. Return it with full, unwavering and never-dying passion.

And we may be surprised to find what we receive in return; yet, if we have been watching we already know what this gift is. It is the gift announced by John the Baptist. It is God’s full, passionate, unwavering and never-dying love . . . and with this comes the gift that wipes out our human frailty forever. The gift to us is the gift of God’s eternity.

First written on December 12, 2010. Re-written and posted today as a Favorite.

Image from: http://www.npnaz.org/

December 31, 2019

Gaudete Sunday, Isaiah 35:1-6a and 10, James 5:7-20, joy, Matthew 11:2-11, Psalm 146

Knowing Joy

The Third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday – December 16, 2012

John 21

Knowing Joy

Pinckaers_4[1] — Servais Pinckaers, O.P. (1925-2008)

I few years ago I came across this final chapter of John on the Third Sunday in Advent which in the traditional church calendar is called Gaudete Sunday, or Rejoice Sunday. It may seem odd to spend time on Christ’s resurrection just as we make our last preparations for the coming of the Christ Child but when we understand the overwhelming joy of the apostles as they interact with the Risen Christ . . . we begin to understand more fully what it is we anticipate in the Nativity.

Now that I have re-read the Noontime reflection from this day some years ago, I look back and realize that although I have taken a road less traveled it has been the better road. I have taken the way with bumps and disappointments but one on which I have learned about balance and moderation, one on which I have fully given myself over to God’s hands rather than trusting myself to my own. The less journeyed path has led through dark days and troubled nights but it has resulted in a much fuller life in the Spirit. The less popular route has provided me with lessons and tools with which to handle grief in a transformative way. It has taught me that there is a clear difference between pleasure and joy . . . and it has shown me that God always calls us to know the joy he has in store for us.

From my present place I can look back to see that what I yearned for that day I now have in abundance: peace despite betrayal, calm despite deceit, joy despite trial. The road less traveled had at first seemed like a dark, forbidding walkway that wended its way over frightening depths and twisted through dense forests. Yet with new tools and better perspective I see that despite its hazards this path curls through open leas and provides bridges for the yawning abysses along the way. This frightening, least-traveled way has become a place of constant familiarity, a place where terror and anxiety melt as trust in God grows, a place where outrageous hope replaces despair.

On this day several years ago as I struggled with my fear of the less-traveled road, I came upon an excerpt from the work of Servais Pinckaers, O.P., a professor emeritus of moral theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland in which he made a distinction between pleasure and joy. He wrote: Pleasure is only a contrivance devised by nature to obtain for the creature the preservation of its life; it does not indicate the direction in which life is thrusting. But joy always announces that life has succeeded, gained ground, conquered. All great joy has a triumphant note. . . Joy is perfectly compatible with moral excellence; it is a sign of this excellence and contributes to its perfection. The fount of joy lies in the inner depths of our being, at the roots of our freedom, when this freedom is open to the outpourings of goodness and love. Yet, in order for the waters of this fount to pour forth within us, we have to make a personal choice of great price: When we receive the call to a greater good, a good that will reveal to us the true joy at the core of our lives, will we know how to break free from the charms of pleasure through a liberating renunciation? The discovery of joy beyond our trials is a decisive step on the way to moral maturity. One even comes to perceive, [that joy,] upon fulfilling its requirements . . . does not destroy, but rather refines and rightly orders, pleasure.

And so we pray . . .

When we receive the call to a greater good, a good that will reveal to us the true joy at the core of our lives, will we know how to break free from the charms of pleasure through a liberating renunciation? Good and gentle God, grant us your outrageous hope so that despite turmoil and chaos and grief we will always abandon our search for mere pleasure . . . so that we might know your full and indescribable joy. Amen.

Cameron, Peter John. “Day by Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 17.12 (2006): 226-227. Print.

To read a post by Servais Pinckaers, O.P., click on the image above or go to: http://dawneden.blogspot.com/2008/04/guest-post-joy-founded-on-truth-servais.html

December 16, 2012

Gaudete Sunday, hope, joy, less-traveled road, Pinckaers, pleasure, resurrection

Tag: Gaudete Sunday

Philippians 4:4-7: Celebrate!

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Joy and Ecclesiastes 5:17-19 – Vanity

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Psalm 90: God’s Eternity, Our Frailty

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Knowing Joy

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