Weekly Reflection - 3rd Sunday of Advent (2022)

"Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" (Mt. 11:3)

This is the Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday.  In Advent as in Lent there is a Sunday that has a tone of joy.  We await in joyful hope the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Christ will soon be in our midst.  We hear sometimes that we have what we are seeking right under our nose.  

When we judge our lives by worldly standards we judge wrongly.  Pope Benedict said "Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom?" And once again the Pope said: "No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life. Amen."

Questions for Reflection:

• Do I realize that my value is who I am in God's eyes and that's it?
• Do I understand that the sacrifices Jesus asks are only to lead me to greater freedom?
• Is the love of Jesus enough for me?