Word of the Week

3rd Sunday of Advent

Rejoice: Chairo (Gk.): meaning, “to rejoice exceedingly, to be glad”, “to be well, thrive”, “in salutations, hail!”, or “a salutation of greeting at the beginning of a letter.”

“‘Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice’ (Ps.105:3) Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, ‘an upright heart’, as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God” (CCC, 30).

The beatitudes are the over-arching prescription for walking in happiness as they engage the intellect and the will--in Truth (CCC, 1820, cf. 1716, 2500). Moreover, rejoicing in the Lord spurs our souls on to live in the hope of Christ (CCC, 1820-21) and enables us to avoid the sin of spiritual sloth (CCC, 2094). In addition to this call of rejoicing in the Lord’s goodness, we have the call to rejoice with Our Lady, she who was called to “rejoice” (Lk.1:26), as we pray to Jesus through Mary (CCC, 2676).  

Among the 7 forms of rejoice found in the Greek, chairo is the most frequent, found seventy-four times in the New Testament. The call to rejoice is one of the signatures of the Christian state as it is an earmark to all NT scholarship: its usage is replete in the gospels and the literature of St. Paul. Peter, building upon the scholarship of the gospels and Paul, applies the term to the most important aspect of the Christian life: suffering. He writes: “But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s suffering, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet.4:13; cf. Col.1:24; Acts 5:41).  That being said, this brief study will take up its prevalence in Paul’s letter to the church of Philippi.
The call to live in gladness acts as an overture to his whole epistle to the church of Philippi. Strikingly, this letter was written from a prison, which highlights Paul’s remarkable fidelity to the gospel truth of being Christ-like in all things. Paul opened up his epistle with the call to rejoice at the proclamation of the gospel. Even if the gospel is proclaimed with a “partisanship”, and “not love”, Paul reminds us that God will still use all things for the glory of God (Phil.1:18). Paul makes it pristinely clear that he is filled with gladness to suffer for the sake of Christ as “a libation upon the sacrificial offering of faith (Phil.2:17)and encourages all others to rejoice with him (Phil.2:18). We see suffering for the sake of Christ as a principle theme for Paul in his theology (cf. Rom.12:1-3; Eph.5:2). Paul also wants the Philippians to be encouraged by the presence of Timothy (Phil.2:28), which speaks of high regard to the importance of priestly presence and the presence of holiness within a Christian community. With his closing words of exhortation, he places a special emphasis on the call to rejoice by repeating it: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil.4:4).

This Third Sunday of Advent calls us to pause and reflect upon the joy that awaits us this Christmas season. From the sight of the great star (cf. Mt.2:10), to the birth of Christ (cf. Lk.1:14), the gospels remind us that we are to rejoice in anticipation of the Christmas event. This truth points us to the reality that joy and happiness does not abide in material things, but the surpassing love of Jesus Christ and our call to be rooted in him in a life of conversion. Our gospel readings from today highlight this truth as it records the preaching of John the Baptist, which sets up the whole foundation for spiritual renewal: ongoing conversion that takes its shape and form in honesty, generosity and social justice (Lk.3:10-18) (Hahn and Minch, 26).

“Let us rejoice and give thanks: we have become not only Christians but Christ himself… Marvel and rejoice, for we have become Christ.”

--St. Augustine

Primary Texts Consulted

•  Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
•  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.
•  Hahn, Scott and Minch , Curtis. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke, RSV, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001.

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