The Third Sunday of Advent A Light of Joy

The third Sunday of Advent is “pink candle” Sunday. It is traditionally called Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday, and the pink candle symbolizes Joy. It represents lightness of heart and an undeterrable spirit even in the darkness. In the middle of all purple, the pink candle brings hope and a promise that the waiting is nearing an end. God’s promise is about to be fulfilled. In that is unconditional Joy! 

Not being sure where to begin this reflection, I started with the dictionary and thesaurus. The synonyms for joy were happiness and delight. It also said joy is a noun. Far be it from me to take exception with Miriam Webster or Peter Roget. However, when we speak of Holy Joy, the Joy of Faith, and the Living Joy of God, words like happiness and delight are weak and wanting. They are wimpy words, and they do not begin to capture the unimaginable wonder of God’s Joy. God’s joy is undefeatable. It is incredible in its depth and resilience, and no temporary emotion, no matter how prevailing, can conquer it. Holy Joy is rooted in the deepest part of our soul. It is the essence of our being. God’s Joy is breath itself.

The Joy of the Candle we light this week is not a noun; it is a verb. It is an action word. Holy Joy is not temporary or extinguishable. It is dynamic, vibrant, and ever-present, no matter the circumstances of our lives at the moment. Holy Joy is the rhythmic breathing that animates and gives fullness of life. Even with tears streaming down our cheeks, the breath of God enables us to take the next breath, to begin to heal.

When God creates, He creates with wonder and joy. We are a part, the best part of God’s creation. Scripture tells us that God breathed life into humanity. God created us in His image, and then He breathed the fullness of Himself into our being. God’s own breath filled us with all of Him. God breathed into us the potential to be fully and completely one with Him both in Heaven and on earth. That is the absolute fullness of Joy.

Sometimes we get lost and cannot find our way, much like the Israelites of old. Sometimes we forget how to breathe. We become overwhelmed with life and its demands. We worry over what we cannot control. We are discouraged when life isn’t going according to our plan. We fear the future, and we mourn the past. We, like the Israelites, forget we breathe with the breath of God.

When the Israelites forgot how to breathe, God breathed the fullness of Himself into His Son with unimaginable love. God sent Jesus to be a constant reminder to us, showing us how to live in the confusion of life. At the moment of Incarnation, God came to be intimate with us forever. Jesus came in simplicity and humility to remind us what we had forgotten. He came as one like us in every way. Jesus came to remind us that we breathe with the very breath of God. That is how God created us. That is how God wants it. That is Holy Joy.

The Joy that fills our hearts as we light this third Advent candle is at the deepest part of our soul. Temporary emotions of happiness, sadness, fear, or even lethargy and apathy, despite their power, do not have the strength to extinguish the light of God’s Joy. 

So, we remember, and we breathe. We inhale God, and His Joy seeps into the depths of our being. We inhale God, and we exhale Joy to our world. Our holy breath bears witness to the Joy of God made manifest in Jesus and in us. And in us!

As we light the Candle of Joy today, breathe deeply. Breathe in God. Breathe out, Holy Joy. It is time now to stand on the brink and wait. It is time to breathe deeply. God is born within us. Just breathe.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen