[ Today's Readings ]
God is calling us to prepare for a celebration. He wants us to dance for joy at the birth of Jesus. The Son of Man comes eating and drinking. He invites us to join in the feast. This Sunday is Gaudete Sunday and we are called to rejoice. We are called especially to rejoice on the feast of Christmas. We must not insist on our own dirge and mourning when God gives us so much to celebrate.
We need to listen to the command of the LORD. He teaches us what is good and leads us on the way we should go. His commandments tells us when to mourn and when to rejoice. We do well to listen and not let our own agendas our priorities keep us from doing so. Both mourning and rejoicing are attitudes and ways of acting that have real value. They reflect what we believe is important. When we mourn and rejoice according to the will of God we commit ourselves to putting first things first. But if we refuse to act with joy at the coming of our king in the flesh we prove that something else is more important to us than his coming.
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.
We mourn and rejoice according to a worldly paradigm because we think the things of the world are important and can actually give us joy. But they cannot. Only God can.
If you would hearken to my commandments,
your prosperity would be like a river,
and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
Your descendants would be like the sand,
and those born of your stock like its grains,
Their name never cut off
or blotted out from my presence.
Let us listen to the joyful music he plays this season. Let us sing and dance for joy in his presence.
Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
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