![\"\"](\"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Winslow_Homer_Farmer_with_a_Pitchfork.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Today is Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday. And yet, maybe many of us arrive here a little tired. Which makes today\u2019s readings comforting. Isaiah is speaking to a weary people in exile James writes to a suffering community under strain, And John the Baptist, Advent\u2019s great prophet, This is not a casual question. There\u2019s an old story that captures this experience perfectly. There once was a wise old farmer who owned a horse. This story reminds us that we don\u2019t see the whole arc of our life The Advent Scriptures are full of these moments. Or think of Joseph, excited about his engagement to Mary. Good news! John the Baptist himself is in a similar situation today. From there, John asks himself:\u2028Did I misunderstand the story? In other words: yes, God is working\u2014 That\u2019s also what the letter of James says to us today: That\u2019s deeply countercultural. This is why Gaudete Sunday matters. Some of us, maybe most of us, It says: Stay awake. Stay faithful. Stay patient.<\/em> Jesus is our model of patient trust. In just a few moments, When we leave this church today and face the week ahead\u2014 Not because everything is perfect, Today is Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday. We light the rose colored candle. We hear words like rejoice and be glad. And yet, maybe many of us arrive here a little tired. Advent days are dark. The world is loud.\u2028This season that\u2019s supposed to be joyful is often when things feel the heaviest, the most stressful. Which makes today\u2019s readings comforting. Because every one of them speaks to us right where we are. Not to people who have it all figured out, not to people whose lives are all...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[363,362,488],"class_list":["post-9392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-advent","tag-gaudete-sunday","tag-john-the-baptist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Winslow_Homer_Farmer_with_a_Pitchfork.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-2ru","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9392"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9399,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9392\/revisions\/9399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWe light the rose colored candle.
\nWe hear words like rejoice and be glad<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nAdvent days are dark. The world is loud.\u2028This season that\u2019s supposed to be joyful
\nis often when things feel the heaviest, the most stressful.<\/p>\n
\nBecause every one of them speaks to us right where we are.
\nNot to people who have it all figured out,
\nnot to people whose lives are all put together and perfect;
\nbut to people who are waiting, struggling,
\nand wondering how God really is at work in our lives.<\/p>\n
\nwho have been disappointed too many times.
\nThe Israelites are in Babylon,
\nuprooted from their homes,
\n900 miles away from the Promised Land,
\nwondering why this is happening to them.<\/p>\n
\nand says\u2014not \u201cbe cheerful,\u201d but be patient.<\/p>\n
\nis sitting in prison with time to think\u2014and doubt.
\nJohn sends messengers to Jesus with a very human question:
\n\u201cAre you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThis is the question of someone who worked tirelessly for God\u2014
\nand now finds himself imprisoned,
\nand unsure of what has happened to him.
\nAnd I think that\u2019s where many of us live,
\nas we look at the events of our lives.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s something I use with my freshman Old Testament classes,
\nand it goes like this:<\/p>\n
\nThat horse was his entire livelihood.
\nOne day, the horse escaped its corral and fled into the hills.
\n\u201cBad news,\u201d his neighbors said.
\n\u201cBad news, good news\u2014who can say?\u201d the wise old farmer replied.
\nThe next day, the horse returned, leading back ten wild horses.
\n\u201cGood news!\u201d the neighbors said.
\n\u201cGood news, bad news\u2014who can say?\u201d the wise old farmer replied.
\nThe next day, the farmer\u2019s son was thrown by one of the wild horses,
\nand broke his leg.
\n\u201cBad news!\u201d the neighbors said.
\n\u201cBad news, good news\u2014who can say?\u201d the wise old farmer replied.
\nThe next day an enemy attacked the village
\nand took away all the able-bodied men.
\nThe old farmer\u2019s injured son was left behind.
\nThis time the neighbors said nothing.<\/p>\n
\nas we\u2019re living it,
\nand we do not know how everything turns out.<\/p>\n
\nThink about Zechariah, who hears from an angel
\nthat he and Elizabeth will have a child in their old age. Good news!
\nBut then he is struck mute. Bad news.<\/p>\n
\nThen he hears that she is pregnant.
\nBad news.
\nThen he finds out that she has been chosen as mother of the Messiah.
\nGood news!<\/p>\n
\nHe has prepared the way for the Messiah.
\nHe preached courageously. He baptized Jesus. Good news!
\nAnd where does that faithfulness lead him?
\nA prison cell. Bad news.<\/p>\n
\nDid I think this was good news,
\nonly to have it turn out to be bad news?
\nHe can\u2019t say.
\nHe recognizes that he does not have the perspective
\nto know how this will all turn out.
\nSo he turns to Jesus and asks him,
\n\u201cAre you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?\u201d
\nJesus doesn\u2019t answer John with explanations, but offers signs:
\nThe blind regain sight.\u2028The lame walk.\u2028The poor hear good news.<\/p>\n
\nbut not according to our timelines
\nor our expectations.
\nGood news, bad news\u2014who can say?<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBe patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.\u201d
\nPatient doesn\u2019t mean passive.
\nIt means trusting that God is at work even when outcomes are unclear.
\nPatience says, \u201cI don\u2019t yet know what this will mean.\u201d
\nPatience says, \u201cI will not rush to despair\u2014or false certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWe live in a world that demands instant judgments and quick conclusions.
\nAdvent trains us differently.
\nIt teaches us how to live in the middle.
\nIn the space where we don\u2019t yet know
\nwhether something will turn out the way we hoped\u2014or not at all.
\nIn the space where faith is less about answers and more about trust.<\/p>\n
\nWe rejoice\u2014not because everything is resolved\u2014
\nbut because God is faithful in our unresolved places.
\nThe prophet Isaiah doesn\u2019t promise immediate relief.
\nHe promises strength for feeble hands and firmness for knocking knees.
\nHe promises that God comes\u2014not always quickly, but always truly.<\/p>\n
\nare carrying questions this Advent that have no quick answers.
\nWe\u2019re waiting for clarity.
\nWe\u2019re waiting for healing.
\nWe\u2019re waiting for reconciliation.
\nWe\u2019re waiting for something to make sense.
\nAnd the wisdom of Scripture today is very gentle, but very clear.<\/p>\n
\nGod\u2019s story with you is not finished yet.
\nAnd that\u2019s why Gaudete joy is quieter than Christmas joy.
\nIt\u2019s the joy of someone who knows that God is near\u2014
\neven when they can\u2019t see the ending.
\nIt\u2019s the joy of trusting in the slow work of God.<\/p>\n
\nThe Son of God came into this world. Good news!
\nHe was put to death on the cross. Bad news.
\nBut he rose again on the third day. Good news!<\/p>\n
\nwe will come forward to receive Christ in the Eucharist\u2014
\nhidden and humble.
\nHe is the same One who comes into our unfinished stories.<\/p>\n
\nwith its mix of reliefs and disappointments\u2014
\nlet this be enough to help us rejoice on this Gaudete Sunday.<\/p>\n
\nand not because we have all the answers,
\nbut because God is at work in every chapter of our story.
\nWe rejoice because the Lord is close.
\nWe rejoice because Christ is already healing,
\nalready coming, already saving.
\nWe rejoice because the deepest truth of our lives is not our hardships,
\nbut God\u2019s faithfulness in the middle of them.
\nSo maybe this week, when life brings us something unexpected\u2014
\nsomething that feels wonderful, or terrible, or confusing\u2014
\nmaybe we can pause and whisper a little Advent prayer:
\n\u201cGood news, bad news\u2026\u2028Lord, only You can say.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"