Readings:
• Zeph 3:14-18a
• Isa 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
• Phil 4:4-7
• Lk 3:10-18
A few years ago, I was in the car with my daughter the day after Thanksgiving, She began searching the radio and what did we soon hear? Christmas music! She wrinkled her nose and said, “Dad, why does this station start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving, and then stop the day after Christmas begins? It makes no sense!”
She was right, of course. It doesn’t make sense that the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, is played every day for thirty days—until Christmastide begins. No, it doesn’t make liturgical sense, but it does make dollars and cents, as demonstrated by the abundance of sales and savings leading up to Christmas.
Scott Hahn, in Signs of Life (Doubleday, 2009), writes that while he doesn’t begrudge retailers their push to sell Christmas gifts, he does “grieve for the eclipse of Advent; for the Church’s season of spiritual preparation for Christmas has certainly been overwhelmed by the ever-expanding ‘Christmas shopping season.’ Advent is a season we must recover, even if it takes heroic effort.”
He later makes this fundamental point, worth pondering with today’s readings: “With the birth of Jesus comes the fulfillment of all the holy desires of all those many centuries. That is the joy we mark in Christmas, but it’s difficult for us to experience the joy unless we first undergo the longing.”
Advent is a season of longing, anticipation, expectancy. We mark Gaudete Sunday midway between the beginning of Advent and the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. Its name comes from the Latin for rejoice, the first word of the opening antiphon of the Mass: “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Today’s readings reflect the growing sense of mingled expectation and exultation. The reality of divine joy is palpable, gathering and waiting like the morning sun hidden behind distant hills.
Waiting, we can take up the question put by the people to John the Baptist, “What should we do?” That question was not in response to a polite suggestion or a series of polling questions, but to John’s strong, even harsh, exhortation. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance… “ (see Lk 3:7-9). The crowds that came out to John wanted a new life and were willing to accept the Baptist’s bracing challenge. And his challenge was very much in keeping with the other Old Testament prophets: share with those in need, be just in collecting taxes, cease extortion and false accusations.
The prophet Zephaniah, writing during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 B.C.), had issued a similar, urgent call for reform and spiritual renewal, setting the stage for the lengthy mission of yet another prophet, Jeremiah. After warning of judgment and the impending Day of the Lord (chapter 1-2), Zephaniah concluded with a hymn of joy to be sung by the faithful remnant when restored to Zion. Who is the faithful remnant? They are the people of the New Covenant, the Church, as well as the Mother of the Church, Mary, the faithful Daughter of Zion (cf. CCC 2676, 722). “The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst,” proclaimed Zephaniah. The King and Lord was also with and within Mary in a unique and transforming way: “The Lord is with Thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
True, lasting joy flows from God. “All seek joy,” wrote St. John Chrysostom, “but it is not found on earth.” That is, it does not come from below, from from above; it is a gift of God. In the words of St. Paul, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” The reason for this is simple and astounding: “The Lord is near.”
Such was John’s message: the Lord is near. Be prepared. Long for his coming. And know the Lord baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire, filling us with divine life. That is music to the ears, forever.
(This “Opening the Word” column originally appeared in the December 16, 2012, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)
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For the past 20 years, my younger daughter has directed “Nutcracker On Ice!” at the skating rink where she coaches. This year, 167 skaters of all ages and skating levels (the youngest is 3, the oldest is in their 60s) will skate in this show. It’s always done on the weekend of Gaudete Sunday. It always sells out. This year, the local Catholic radio station has helped the production team by suggesting several deserving Catholic charitable organizations who have received free tickets to the show ($25 a ticket!) for the children they serve! My daughter told me that one of the charity’s managers was so excited he was almost in tears when she called him–oh, the joy of being able to give this holiday treat to the children in his organization!
While some might see “Nutcracker” as just one more frivolous or worldly piece of fluff that “cheapens” or even mocks Advent, I don’t.
Before my daughter started the show in her college city, I wrote and directed it for 7 years at the rink in my city–and in the process of writing and developing the show, I came to the believe that the story of the Nutcracker is an analogy for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, to die in our place and make it possible for us to be restored to fellowship with Him as children of God.
In the original Nutcracker Story, the young girl is named Marie or Maria. Coincidence? I think not. In many versions of the story today, including the Nutcracker on Ice!, the character of the young girl is named Clara, who in the original story by E.T.A. Hoffman, was Maria’s doll, although Maria considered Clara “her child.” Does not our blessed Mother Mary treat all of us as her beloved children?
One of the best scenes in Nutcracker on Ice! is the battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse Queen. Yes, thankfully for the ice skaters in my daughter’s production, most of whom are female, E.T.A. Hoffman’s original Nutcracker story had a mouse QUEEN, who had a seven-headed son–and these two were quite evil! But a young girl overcame the Mouse Queen by throwing her slipper (in the ice skating version, she throws an ice skate!)–this part of the story, to me, is an obvious symbol of the Virgin Mary, who gave her consent to be the Blessed Mother of Our Lord, raised Him and kept Him safe, and stood by the cross as her Son died to save us from our sins. Perhaps the “seven-headed son”, who in Hoffman’s tale was slayed by the Nutcracker, is a symbol of the Seven Sorrows of Mary?
Once the Nutcracker has triumphed over the Mouse Queen, he takes Clara (in a sleigh) to the kingdom of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Again, to me, this is an analogy of our hope of heaven. In the story, Clara wakes up and wonders if she has just dreamed the whole adventure. Psalm 126:1 says, “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.” I often dream of heaven (waking and sleeping dreams) and the hope of seeing the Lord Jesus, the Blessed Mother, all the angels and saints, and my dear ones, including my beloved husband of 41 years, who have gone before me. What joy to know that someday, this dream, God willing, will come true!
So perhaps on Gaudete Sunday, consider watching a Nutcracker production or reading the story (there are hundreds of published versions for all ages). If you can, find the original Hoffman version and settle into a cozy armchair with a cup of something warming, and see if this story sounds very familiar–a story of a Savior and His Mother and all of humanity who now can have a hope of the sweetness of heaven.
There are times when we need to make ourselves rejoice. Carl Olson reminds us. Advent is lamented by Olson, Scott Hahn, that is, the loss of its spiritual meaning in preparation for the birth of our Savior.
There’s lots of bad news, easy to make us spiritually tired, forlorn. Although gift sharing has its downside with the frenzy of advertisements, shopping it is nice to do something nice. Although rejoice, gaudete shows how ‘unselfish’ we should be according to the Apostle. Why unselfish? Because we focus on the good done for us by Christ, by others. The gifts of grace we receive to do God’s work. Giving to Christ the gift of our appreciation.