On this 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete, Paul invites us to always be pleased and to give thanks in everything. Let us take the attitude of Mary who magnifies the Lord for the great things accomplished in her, and also that of the Baptist, who recognizes that he does not have the authority to untie the lace of the sandal to the one who comes. The gesture seems to allude to the Levitical Law: implicitly John recognizes that he is not the groom, but, as he will say later, only the friend of the groom. In this way we encounter another joy, that of our friend, who “rejoices in the voice of the spouse” (Cfr. Jn 3:29). Gaudete, rejoice: the joy that this Sunday announces helps us meet figures of the faith, such as Mary and John, who recognize that the meaning of their life and its happy fulfilment rests at the heart of a relationship. Mary is the “little girl” who knows that God’s action is “great”. John responds to those who question him about his identity: before declaring who he is, he says “who he is not”: I am not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet. He is the voice of one that is the Word. It’s true for us too: what we are depends on the relationship we have with someone else, our relationship with Jesus. While John prophesies “before his face”, he himself lets himself be defined by the one who is to come. Living in the gift of grace, as Paul urges, means recognizing that we live thanks to the gift we receive.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey