On this third Sunday of Advent, at the darkest time of year in Northern lands, the keynote of our celebration is JOY. The entrance chant for Mass in the Roman liturgy bids us Gaudete, ‘Rejoice!’, taking the words from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians (4: 4). After repeating this exhortation, Paul explains why we should rejoice, despite all the darkness in life:
‘The Lord is near.’ He is near in at least three ways:

– In less than a fortnight we shall celebrate his birth in our world in time.
– Then, his second, definitive, coming at the end of time is nearer than it was last year.
– Thirdly, the Lord is near to each one of us, interiorly, in our various needs, especially when we are suffering.

But this joy is not a frothy, surface happiness; it comes from deep down and can only be detected in stillness, silence and faith. The music for today’s entrance chant at Mass [shown with this post] gives us a clue: see how it begins very low down on the scale and rises up. The highest note in the piece (the highest note often represents the climax in Gregorian chant) is found on the word Nihil, ‘nothing’ as St Paul bids the Philippians, and us, to be anxious about nothing (Phil 4: 5).

St Teresa of Avila echoes this in her famous prayer:
‘Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you; God never changes.’

St Paul wrote these words to the Christian community in Philippi when he was probably under house arrest at a time when Christians were under sporadic outbursts of persecution. Today, we rejoice with those freed from prison in Belarus and take their words to heart, ‘Never give up!’. Instead, let us rejoice in Christ’s victory.