Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4: 4-7
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On
16 December 2012 His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, as bishop of Rome, visited the
parish of San Patrizio al Colle Prenestino. On the third Sunday of Advent,
called "Gaudete" Sunday as it invites us to be glad, the Holy Father
observed that Advent is not only a time for conversion but also for joy,
because "it is the time in which the anticipation of the Saviour is
awakened in the hearts of believers, and awaiting the arrival of a loved one
always brings joy".
"In
just a few days' time we will celebrate Christmas, the feast of the coming of
God, who came among us as a child and as our brother to be with us and to share
in our human condition. We must rejoice for His closeness and His presence, and
always to seek to understand that He is truly near, so that the goodness of God
and the joy of Christ might enter into us. ... St. Paul expressed emphatically
in one of his letters that nothing can separate us from God's love as
manifested in Christ. Only sin can lead us astray from Him, but this is an element
that we ourselves bring to our relationship with Him. However, even when we
turn away from Him, He never ceases to love us and to remain close to us with
His mercy, His willingness to forgive and to welcome us anew in His love".
"The
joy that the Lord communicates to us must find grateful love in us. Indeed, we
achieve full joy when we recognise His mercy, when we become aware of the signs
of His goodness..." concluded the Pope.
For
more information, please visit:
http://www.news.va/en/news/the-joy-of-advent
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… No
one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord. The great joy announced by the
angel on Christmas night is truly for all the people, both for the people of
Israel then anxiously awaiting a Savior, and for the numberless people made up
of all those who, in time to come, would receive its message and strive to live
by it. The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first to have received its announcement,
from the angel Gabriel, and her Magnificat was already the exultant hymn of all
the humble. Whenever we say the rosary, the joyful mysteries thus place us once
more before the inexpressible event which is the center and summit of history:
the coming on earth of Emmanuel, God with us….
Pope
Paul VI, Gaudete in Domino
For
the complete text, please visit:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19750509_gaudete-in-domino_en.html
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