You may notice in our pew missals that on every Sunday and feast day, in addition to the Responsorial Psalm, there are three antiphons–Entrance, Offertory, and Communion–listed. Eventually we will move toward using these antiphons more frequently in our Masses. They are almost always passages from Scripture and they help us to enter into the Liturgy in a deeper way. The antiphons help us to think and to pray with the Church. They are not randomly chosen, but rather give a profound cohesiveness to our prayer and meditation. The antiphons are a marvelous treasury of spiritual nourishment and I encourage you each week to look them over as a way of entering into the Sacred Mysteries. A good example of this would be today’s Entrance Antiphon. The Third Sunday of Advent, which we celebrate today, is often referred to as, “Gaudete Sunday.” It is called that because the first word of today’s Entrance Antiphon is “Rejoice” (in Latin, “Gaudete”). It is taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, is, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” This antiphon is a key for unlocking the mysteries of today’s Liturgy. It also binds us all together. It binds us not only to one another here at St. Patrick Parish, but it binds us together with the whole Church throughout the ages. It binds us to all of salvation history, to the patriarchs, prophets, to all who longed for Christ, to the apostles, the saints, and to Christians in every time and place. One of the things that draws me to these antiphons is that they are for everyone. The antiphons are not chosen based upon how we feel or what we want to hear. They are given. Sometimes in life, we read things or listen to things depending upon our mood, right? In the Liturgy, it works the other way. The Liturgy indicates to us what our disposition should be. So, whether we arrived at Mass today in the mood for rejoicing or whether we arrived here feeling far from rejoicing, it does not matter. The antiphon is the same for all of us. It instructs us that all of us should rejoice. Does that mean that the Liturgy is telling us that by our sheer force of will we should rejoice despite how we might feel? No. The antiphon tells us precisely why we should rejoice. We should rejoice because the Lord is near. We should always rejoice. We should rejoice when things are all going well and we should rejoice when things are falling apart. Why? Because the Lord is near. We rejoice not because of our circumstances, but because the Lord is near to us. True rejoicing is always because of the nearness of the Lord. Does that mean that the Church’s liturgy is insensitive to people’s circumstances, sufferings, and pain? No! It’s the exact opposite. The Liturgy is saying, “You who are weighed down by many burdens, you can still rejoice because the Lord is near to you. He loves you. He is close to you. Circumstances and situations might be awful right now, but there is good news for you. The Lord is near to you.” This antiphon comes to us, in fact, during the darkest days of the year. It’s as though the Liturgy is reminding us that whatever darkness is present in our life, we can still rejoice because the Lord is close at hand. I want to say to anyone who reads these words today, but especially to those who are heavily burdened; to those who are suffering from illness, those weighed down by grief, depression, addiction, anxiety, marital problems, family problems; to those weighed down by the memory of past sins or the struggle with present sins; to those who feel alone; to those who feel as though they are a burden to others; to those who feel as though they are a disappointment or that their life has not turned out how they thought; to those who feel weak in faith and who are on the brink of despair; and especially to those who feel unloved: To all of you: Today is for you. Today you are free to rejoice because the Lord is near to you. He is always near to you. Are you still thinking that your situation precludes you from rejoicing? The Liturgy today is prepared for such a reaction. The Communion Antiphon is taken from the Lord’s words to the Prophet Isaiah: “Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us.” God is speaking to you. Your Brother in Christ, Fr. David Barnes