The first and second readings of this Sunday give the same injunction: Rejoice in the Lord!
This doesn’t seem too remarkable unless you know that both the Prophet Zephaniah and the Apostle Paul were addressing people in the midst of profound suffering.
Zephaniah prophesied to the people of Judah when the kingdom had experienced great prosperity. The rich and powerful refused to obey God and instead imitated the surrounding kings with idolatry and exploiting the poor. Zephaniah preached both the judgement of God against the unjust and his promise of salvation for the humble and faithful who were oppressed.
St. Paul wrote to the faithful of Philippi who were ostracized and slandered by their fellow citizens because of their faith in Jesus. He taught them by his own example how joining any suffering to the suffering of Jesus leads to true and lasting joy, something that the world can’t give.
These calls to rejoice are obviously not founded on worldly comfort. Even the promises of God are better than anything the world can offer, and we can have true and lasting joy even in the midst of suffering that has yet to be relieved. That is why both penitential seasons of the year have a Sunday dedicated to joy. Penance can be joyful because it already participates in salvation. Even in the midst of sufferinga, we have been given everything we need to join Jesus and his Saints and already experience the joy that only Jesus gives.
-Fr. Nathan
Rose Sunday
The rarest of liturgical colors, rose vestments are used only two Sundays of the year: the third Sunday in Advent and the fourth Sunday in Lent. Their use is not required, but the symbolism is an ancient and beautiful one.
In Advent, the usual color is violet and has a twofold meaning: it is the traditional color of penance and also of royalty. The darkness of the world without Jesus that we recall in this season is lifted and brightened by joy on Gaudete Sunday. The opening prayer and readings of the Mass urge us: Gaudete! (Rejoice!) because salvation is near.
While they often end up looking pink, the vestments are meant to be rose, a lighter shade of the violet that shows this joy as we look forward to the coming of the King of kings and the fulfillment of God’s promised salvation.
