"Rejoice in the Lord always!" This invitation of the apostle Paul serves as an entrace antiphon of today’s 3^rd. Sunday of Advent Season. In former times it used to be called "Gaudete" Sunday. The invitation to rejoice resounds in all the readings! We are in Advent, a time of awaiting, and there is no awaiting without joy! We await our freedom, our salvation, Him who comes to fill our life, to fulfill the desires of peace and unity present in the hearts of all human beings, we await Him who loves us and desires us as a groom desires his bride!

The reading from the prophet Isaiah is the one Jesus found in the scroll when he stood up to read in the synagogue of Nazareth. With these words he showed himself to those who thought they knew him, but didn’t know his mission that he received from the Father! "I rejoice heartily in the Lord, my soul exhalts in my God, for he has dressed me with salvation…" The joy of the prophet becomes the joy of Jesus that fulfills the love of the Father for the poor, the oppressed, the slaves, the prisoners! Therefore Jesus becomes the joy of all persons, us! We are the slaves who are bound to serv several visible and invisible masters, we are the prisioners within our conscience for a list of small or grave mistakes, we are the ones with broken hearts because of illnesses of body and of our sins and sins of our brothers and sisters, we are the poor who await the good news of the coming of our defensor! The words of the prophet give us hope, make shine our eyes with pure joy! To these words the liturgy invite us to answer with those that came out of the mouth of Mary: "My soul magnifies my Lord, and my spirit exhalts in God, my saviour"! Mary knew God’s love for the poor and their sufferings, she sung it while awaiting her Son, and when He came she experienced Him and saw Him fulfilled in all those who followed Him on His way to Jerusalem.

Joy and gladness surround the presence of Jesus: even the Baptist, that today we hear about in the Gospel, was in fervent awaiting. The evangelist presents him with his name that means "God is good, is love"! Presents him as a witness to the light, as the one who opens the hearts for faith. John knows that he is not the one to come. This he makes clear with those who went to ask him. He is not the Christ, but he is the one to prepare the hearts for the one to come so that they can receive the Holy Spirit in return and listen to his word! "I am the voice of one who cries out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord"!

John proclaims "one who is present amongst you, one whom you don’t know". About himself he said that he is not worthy to undo his sandals! This last expression, easily understood by the Jews, can surprise us. Why? Among the Jews when a man die without leaving any children, the next to kin was supposed to marry his wife to give descendency to the dead man. It was not always that the relative fulfill such a custom! Therefore the one to take his place was supposed to undo the sandal of the one who has not fulfilled the custom in public.

John used this expression to show us that John the Baptist felt unworthy to replace Jesus, the groom, in his love for the bride! Jesus is therefore presented as the groom, a title given by the prophets to God himself, the faithful groom of Israel of the often unfaithful bride. Saying that Jesus is the groom is equal to say that He is God himself, who came down to visit his people with a uncomparable love!

This is the one we are waiting for during this season of Advent. The awaiting is full of joy for we know that He wont let us down! St. Paul urges us to joy, to constant prayer, to give thanks for everything. The one who give thanks shows that he is not closed on himself, but is open to the one who is next to him, to God who calls us! Awaiting means vigilance, careful not to become an instrument in the evil one’s hands, but to be sanctified in all!

Lord Jesus, I await your coming with joy. Come whenever you want, but I shall wait for you always. I have no one else to wait for, no one who can take your place, can be equal to you. You are the only saviour and friend of men!