Dear Friends,
Rejoice! That’s the watchword of this Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete comes from the Introit (Entrance Antiphon) for this Mass, and it’s a Latin word, meaning “Rejoice!”
Rejoicing ought to be a part of the bulletin column this week. Two weeks ago, we explored the questions of why there is something rather than nothing and why God created: how God created everything good, there was a harmony in all relationships, and that God created all of it for us, for us to enter into deep union and friendship with Him. Last week, we discussed the question of why everything is so messed up: the Fall of Adam and Eve, Original Sin, temptation, and our enemy, the devil. Considering the sad state and situation of our world, we now face this question: what has God done about this? As I mentioned last week, there is nothing on our own that we can do about fixing this fallen world, so we are in need of a Savior, in need of God, the only one who can do something about our situation of slavery, oppression, and brokenness.
I shared this quotation from C.S. Lewis in a homily last year, but it’s worth repeating: “Enemy-occupied territory—this is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.” What has God done about our situation? He has sent His Son to fight for us. Think of D-Day: in a covert mission, the Allied Forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in order to liberate Europe, which had been under the tyrannical and oppressive authority of Nazi Germany. God sends His Son, not in all His glory and majesty, but in human form, born as a baby, defenseless and vulnerable, into the world which has been under the reign of sin and Satan. If being fully human (while still fully divine) wasn’t enough of a disguise for the Son of God, He was born in poverty in a stable to parents not of nobility; He lived in a backwoods town in an unimportant part of the Roman Empire. He lived in hiddenness as a carpenter for nearly all of His life. The rightful King came in disguise into this world in order to liberate us, in order to rescue us from the powers of sin, death, and the devil.
It was on the Cross that our Lord Jesus fought for us. Maybe we don’t see that, but that’s precisely what happened. Again, this idea of disguise comes into play. The devil would not fight God in an outright fight; he knew he would lose. There is no equality between God and the devil, and it is God who is all-powerful and almighty. The Son of God goes up to the Cross in order to draw the devil close to Him, for the devil would have assumed that God surely would not be a human being suffering ignominy, humiliation, torture, and crucifixion, and yet that is precisely what the Son of God did. The devil, thinking he was about to devour another soul, instead found himself in a combat with the Son of God and ultimately defeated, not by force or domination, but by the overwhelming power of self-giving, sacrificial love.
God sent His Son, born of the Virgin Mary, to rescue us from the powers of darkness. His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, entered into battle with our enemy on the Cross, defeating our enemies through the power of self-giving love. We know the end of the story: God is triumphant and victorious. He has conquered our opponents and rules Heaven and earth, but as the devil goes down, he tries to take as many of us with him. Therefore, we are called to participate in the King’s great campaign of sabotage. More on that next week.
One last thing: why did God send His Son? Why didn’t the Father do all the work Himself? Perhaps we can think in these terms: what is most precious to parents? Hopefully, the answer is their children. A parent’s heart is his/her children, and God’s heart is His Son. God reveals what He is willing to do for us. He is willing to lose His own Son, His own heart so that we may be redeemed and saved. The depths of God’s love for us is inexhaustible, unfathomable.
We are saints under construction, rescued, redeemed, liberated, and saved by God from slavery to sin, death, and the devil. Rejoice! Have a great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt