A Gaudete Sunday Thought About Roses to Start the Week Off Right
It's Gaudete Sunday, this third Sunday of Advent. The Introit of today's Mass reminds us that even as Advent remains a season of penance and preparation, we still rejoice, knowing that Christmas lies just around the bend.
Here in the Northeast, December has followed in November's footsteps as warmest on record. This week we hit the 60s, even the mid-60s over the weekend. It reminds me of the scene in the movie "White Christmas" when Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) get off the train in Vermont expecting winter, but getting spring. Remember that? It's a bit disorienting, to be sure.
Then again, even as it feels "too warm," our neighbors roses are blooming, a rather delightful turn of events. Those roses remind me of a time when the priest wore rose-colored vestments on Gaudete Sunday (not pink!). These days, if you attend the Novus Ordo Mass (rather than the traditional Extraordinary Form), you may never have experienced those beautiful vestments. Too bad. They contrast, in a moving way, with Advent's usual purple, working hand in glove with the Introit, pointing us towards Christmas.
I'm not sure why the tradition of rose-colored vestments slipped away from the Novus Ordo, but I do miss it when I attend a Gaudete Sunday Mass without them. But whether the priest wears rose or purple, and whether or not roses are blooming in your garden in mid-December, the fact is we're more than half-way through Advent. Our churches have put up some of the Christmas decorations. (The great feast of the Immaculate Conception usually brings wreathes, the creche, and maybe some other decorations.) We've got the basics up in our home, with more to come. How about you?
It's a good time to remember the remarkable, wonderful, miraculous fact that Our Blessed Lord, the Son of God, deigned to accept the humility of becoming one of us at the moment of His Incarnation, the moment Our Blessed Mother responded to the angel Gabriel: "Be it done unto me according to your word." And He did this just so we could spend eternity in the infinite joy of Heaven with Him, with all the angels and saints, even with those of our family and friends who find their way to Heaven before or after us. Think about this. And think of how much God loves us every time you hear the word "Incarnation" during Advent and the coming Christmas Season. That simple meditation will unite all of us Catholics on this Gaudete Sunday, warm or cold, purple or rose, Novus Ordo or Usus Antiquor (Extraordinary Form). Together, as one Body of Christ, we will exalt the Lord and all His creation on this Gaudete Sunday.
Gaudete in domino semper...Rejoice in God always
Here in the Northeast, December has followed in November's footsteps as warmest on record. This week we hit the 60s, even the mid-60s over the weekend. It reminds me of the scene in the movie "White Christmas" when Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) get off the train in Vermont expecting winter, but getting spring. Remember that? It's a bit disorienting, to be sure.
Then again, even as it feels "too warm," our neighbors roses are blooming, a rather delightful turn of events. Those roses remind me of a time when the priest wore rose-colored vestments on Gaudete Sunday (not pink!). These days, if you attend the Novus Ordo Mass (rather than the traditional Extraordinary Form), you may never have experienced those beautiful vestments. Too bad. They contrast, in a moving way, with Advent's usual purple, working hand in glove with the Introit, pointing us towards Christmas.
Gaudete in domino semper...Rejoice in God always
I'm not sure why the tradition of rose-colored vestments slipped away from the Novus Ordo, but I do miss it when I attend a Gaudete Sunday Mass without them. But whether the priest wears rose or purple, and whether or not roses are blooming in your garden in mid-December, the fact is we're more than half-way through Advent. Our churches have put up some of the Christmas decorations. (The great feast of the Immaculate Conception usually brings wreathes, the creche, and maybe some other decorations.) We've got the basics up in our home, with more to come. How about you?
It's a good time to remember the remarkable, wonderful, miraculous fact that Our Blessed Lord, the Son of God, deigned to accept the humility of becoming one of us at the moment of His Incarnation, the moment Our Blessed Mother responded to the angel Gabriel: "Be it done unto me according to your word." And He did this just so we could spend eternity in the infinite joy of Heaven with Him, with all the angels and saints, even with those of our family and friends who find their way to Heaven before or after us. Think about this. And think of how much God loves us every time you hear the word "Incarnation" during Advent and the coming Christmas Season. That simple meditation will unite all of us Catholics on this Gaudete Sunday, warm or cold, purple or rose, Novus Ordo or Usus Antiquor (Extraordinary Form). Together, as one Body of Christ, we will exalt the Lord and all His creation on this Gaudete Sunday.
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts!
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