Joyful despite our difficulties

Gaudete, which means "rejoice," "be joyful," is the message of this 3rd Sunday of Advent.

- FR. BEL SAN LUIS, SVD

That's why the liturgical color is pink.With the birth of Jesus the Messiah, the Sunday tells us to be “joyful in hope” because he has already redeemed us and now we should do our part in saving ourselves.

During the time of John the Baptist, people did not know who or where the Messiah was. People kept looking for him to come in the guise of some kind of Elijah or their imagining.

The people asked John: “Are you the Messiah?” “No, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight his path” (John 1, 23).

The people then kept missing who the Messiah was when in fact he was right in their midst, prompting the Baptist to exclaim, "There is one among you whom you do not know" (Jn 1,26).

In one of my pilgrimages to the Holy Land, our group visited the tomb of King David highly revered by the Jews. In the course of the tour, I asked the lady tour guide of David’s tomb, “Madame, what about Jesus Christ? How do you regard him?”