The third Sunday in Advent is sometimes called "Gaudete (Rejoice!) Sunday" and the liturgical color is rose. May we find comfort in the scriptures we hear as we near the remembrance of Christ's coming.

“The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners. God sent me to announce the year of his grace - a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies - and to comfort all who mourn.” (Is. 61:1-2 The Message)

This week Bill and I have received prayer requests for so many with new cases of Covid19, illness, and other grave concerns. We pray for those who mourn. We ask you to join us as we pray by name for Sara, Amy, Anthony, Judy, Laura, Vinita, Anita, Rachel and John, Harold and family. We believe that the Spirit of God will bring good news, healing, freedom, pardon, and comfort.

In this morning’s Lauds in the Liturgy of the Hours, we read: “He exalts the strength of his people. He is the praise of all his saints, of all the people to whom he comes close.” (Ps 148 Grail) Before God’s people became saints, they were people who believed. They were people who stayed strong in faith through adversity. They were people who sought the Lord to come close.

We know of saints in the Hebrew Scriptures who believed in the coming of the Messiah and saints of the New Testament who walked side by side with Jesus. There are some whom we know and admire, living and deceased, as saintly. And we can call some friends and family saints. Saints are the ones who believe in the good news, the brokenhearted who seek healing, the captives who seek freedom, and the mourning who seek comfort.

As we approach the celebration of the coming of Jesus, Emmanuel -- God with us -- let us prepare our hearts and souls, seek to come close to the Lord, and ready ourselves for the comfort of God’s love in the Child Jesus born in a manger. Let us believe.

Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) is a song that needs singing, over and over again. Here is my attempt to give it fresh voice:

It’s the song of a maid

from long, long ago,

a maid who’s heard

wondrous things.

An angel has come,

strange tidings to bring,

of hope in the darkest of days.

It’s not just a song for a maid long ago,

in some land far, far away.

It’s a song for these days

of stubborn malaise,

of sorrow and anger and wrong.

It’s a song for the hopeless, the hungry, the poor,

the weak who are now made strong.

It’s not just one babe,

it’s a whole world new:

a world made true and right.

It’s not just one night

with a bright shining star,

but the dawn of whole new light.

Bluffing braggarts are cast from their thrones,

the humble are lifted on high.

Mercy she sings and mercy she brings:

News of God, once distant, come nigh.

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