Matthew 11: 2-11
Today, the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday.
In the midst of the stress of Christmas shopping, long work weeks, paying off our credit cards, and tending to the many demands the holidays bring, Mother Church says: “Stop! Breathe! Rejoice! Your Savior is in your midst!”
In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist, from his prison cell, sends his disciples out to find Jesus and to ask if He is truly the one sent by God, the one that John spent himself proclaiming. We, too, spend our lives proclaiming Jesus Christ and His Kingdom of Love, and sometimes we need to refocus our lens.
Our deep joy comes when the poor are treated with integrity and respect, when the hungry are nourished, when those who are powerful attend to the powerless, and when mercy and forgiveness take center stage. Is this the Good News we bring? Will we set our sights not only on Christmas, but on the coming of Christ into our time and reality?
Rejoice! The Kingdom of God is at hand!
Sr. Michele Vincent Fisher, CSFN
