Collect taken from the Third Sunday in Advent, Gaudete Sunday.
Collect: O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity, enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son…
“O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity”
– This prayer takes for granted that, as Christians, we are actually anticipating a celebration of the Lord’s birth rather than looking forward to parties and gifts (or already acting like its Christmas).
“enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing”
– Knowing that salvation is a gift, but it isn’t something that means no effort from us, the Church prays for us to have the strength to follow through in cooperating with that gift. It also prays for us to have the disposition to celebrate such a gift not in a merely human way, but with the “solemn worship” entrusted to the church and the glad rejoicing which is a supernatural fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Questions & Advice: Do you actually await Christ’s birth or are you just enjoying sweets, parties and presents for their merely human value? Will you be tired of Christmas once it’s finally here? In particular, are you looking forward to celebrating Christmas with “solemn worship” of the Church by going to Mass (which you have to do twice this year)?
Read about Advent preparation in the Catechism (522-24). It’s not as intense as Lent, but there is nonetheless a penitential character. Today is a day of joy because the Nativity is near, but if we’ve been partying it up the whole time, it kind of loses is meaning. How will you use this last week to prepare for Christmas? In addition to some minor sacrifice, I especially recommend that you use the O Antiphons as a way to foster your sense of prayer and anticipation.
