13 December 2026 · Latin Rite
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“John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”” John 1:26–27
The Entrance Antiphon gives this Sunday its name: “Gaudete in Domino semper”, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4–5). Halfway through Advent the violet softens to rose. Joy is not a break from Advent; it is its heart, because the One we await is already near.
Isaiah's servant says, “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives.” Jesus will read these very words in the synagogue at Nazareth and say, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled” (Luke 4:21). The response today is Mary's Magnificat: Christian joy is the joy of the humble whom God has lifted up.
John the Evangelist presents the Baptist as a witness: “He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.” When priests and Levites ask who he is, John answers with three “No”s: not the Messiah, not Elijah, not the prophet. He is only “the voice”. Then he says something every Advent needs to hear: “Among you stands one whom you do not know.” Christ is already in our midst, in the Word, the sacraments, the poor, the person beside us; the question is whether we recognise him.
Paul gives the programme for joyful waiting: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances… Do not quench the Spirit… Hold fast to what is good.” And he ends with a promise: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” Holiness is God's work in us; our joy rests on his faithfulness.
Theme: “Rejoice: the Lord is near.”
Christ fulfils Isaiah's good news, gives the joy of the humble, and stands among us unrecognised.
“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.” Isaiah 61:1–2
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” Luke 4:18–19
Apply: Visit someone sick or lonely before Christmas.
“Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” Zephaniah 3:14
“For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” Luke 1:49–50
Apply: Thank God for three joys every night.
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Isaiah 61:10
“John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”” John 1:26–27
Apply: Look for Christ in someone you overlook.
Christian joy rests on God's faithfulness.
He who calls you is faithful.
Take-home resolution: Pray a short prayer each time you pick up your phone this week.
Dear brothers and sisters, today is Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of joy. The priest may wear rose vestments, and we light the rose candle. Why? Because the Lord is near.
The prophet Isaiah says: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives.” Years later Jesus stood in the synagogue of Nazareth, read these words, and said: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” Our joy has a name: Jesus.
Instead of a psalm we sing Mary's song: “My soul rejoices in my God.” Mary was poor and humble, and God did great things for her. Christian joy is not the joy of having everything; it is the joy of being loved by God.
In the Gospel people ask John: “Who are you? Are you the Messiah? Elijah? The prophet?” And he says, “No, no, no. I am only a voice.” And then: “Among you stands one whom you do not know.” Jesus was already there, in the crowd, unnoticed.
Is it the same with us? Jesus is among us: in the Eucharist, in the Word, in the poor at our gate, in the family member we take for granted. Advent asks us to open our eyes.
St Paul gives us a simple programme for this week: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” Try it: every night, thank God for three joys. And remember his promise: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” Rejoice: the Lord is near!
Children, today the candle is pink, I mean rose! It's the candle of joy.
Christmas is getting close, and Jesus is near!
John the Baptist said: Jesus is among you, but you don't know him. Where can we find Jesus? In church, in our family, in poor people.
This week, say thank you to God for three happy things every night!
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 Christ our Lord. Amen.
This is Gaudete Sunday, named from the opening word of the Entrance Antiphon: Gaudete in Domino semper, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). The Lord is near, and the Church’s joy begins to break through the waiting. Rose vestments may be worn today.
Each reading gives one note of this joy. In Isaiah an anointed messenger brings good news to the oppressed, and Zion exults like a bride. In place of a psalm we sing the song of Mary, “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”. St Paul writes, “Rejoice always”. And in John’s Gospel the Baptist tells us what kind of joy this is: he is not the light, he is not the Messiah, and he is glad to be only a voice for the one who stands among us unknown. The key words are anointed, rejoice and witness.
Setting.
Chapters 56–66 of Isaiah are usually dated after the return from Babylon, when the exiles had come home and found ruins and disappointment, not the glory they had hoped for. Into that discouragement a prophetic voice speaks, the voice of someone anointed by the Spirit.
The Lectionary makes two cuts. It stops in the middle of v. 2, at “the year of the Lord’s favor”, before “the day of vengeance”. Jesus stops at the same place when he reads this passage in Nazareth (Luke 4:18–19). It then goes to vv. 10–11, the joyful answer of Zion.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;” (61:1)
In Nazareth Jesus reads these words and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). “To bind up” is the word for bandaging a wound: this messenger is also a healer.
“to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” (61:2)
Jubilee language: a whole year of God’s mercy. In Christ it becomes a time of mercy that has no end.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,” (61:10)
The joy comes from what has been received. Salvation is something we are dressed in, as at a wedding. Mary’s song, sung today, has the same movement: “my spirit rejoices in God”.
“so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.” (61:11)
Growth is slow and hidden, like a seed in the ground. That is the way of God’s work in the small town of Nazareth, and in us.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that Christ inaugurates the proclamation of the Good News by making this passage of Isaiah his own (CCC 714). The name “Christ” means “anointed” (CCC 436), and Christians share in that name through Baptism and Confirmation (CCC 1241, 1289). Each Christian is sent, then, to bring the same good news to the poor (see CCC 2443–2449 on love for the poor).
Setting.
Mary has travelled to visit Elizabeth, and Elizabeth has called her blessed (1:42–45). Mary answers with a song. Its language is drawn from the Old Testament, above all from the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1–10), and from the Psalms. Mary sings as the voice of Israel, and also in her own voice as the handmaid who has been looked upon. The Lectionary uses part of it today as the response to the first reading, leaving out vv. 51–52 and 55.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” (1:46)
“and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” (1:47)
Mary calls God her Savior. The one preserved from sin knows better than anyone how much she owes him.
“for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;” (1:48)
This is a prophecy being fulfilled every time the Hail Mary is prayed. The praise is for what God has done, as the next verse says.
“he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” (1:53)
The verbs are in the past tense, as though it had already happened. God’s reversal has begun in the child Mary is carrying.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism calls the Magnificat the song both of the Mother of God and of the Church (CCC 2619). The Latin Church sings it at every Evening Prayer. St Ambrose writes: let the soul of Mary be in each of us to magnify the Lord, and her spirit to rejoice in God (in substance). Because of vv. 52–53, this is also a song the Church cannot sing without care for the hungry.
Setting.
This is very likely the oldest writing in the New Testament, sent by Paul around AD 50–51, probably from Corinth. He had stayed only a short time in Thessalonica before being forced to leave (Acts 17:1–10), and he writes to a young Church that is suffering and asking about the Lord’s return. These verses come at the end of the letter, as a series of short commands.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Rejoice always,” (5:16)
“pray without ceasing,” (5:17)
“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (5:18)
Paul says “in” all circumstances, not “for” all of them. He writes to people under persecution, and he is not asking them to pretend. Joy comes from what Christ has done.
“Do not quench the Spirit.” (5:19)
“but test everything; hold fast to what is good;” (5:21)
Enthusiasm needs discernment. The Catechism applies this to the discernment of charisms by the Church’s shepherds (CCC 801).
“May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (5:23)
“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” (5:24)
The final word puts all the commands in their place. It is God who will do it.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism takes “pray without ceasing” as the rule for Christian prayer (CCC 2742–2745), and quotes Origen: he prays without ceasing who unites prayer to works and good works to prayer. St Augustine teaches that it is desire that prays continually: if your desire is unbroken, so is your prayer (in substance). The Catechism also places “give thanks in all circumstances” at the heart of the prayer of thanksgiving (CCC 2638).
Setting.
The first passage comes from the great Prologue of John’s Gospel, which speaks of the Word and the light, and brings in John as “a man sent from God”. In this Gospel he is never called “the Baptist”: he is above all the witness. The second passage opens the story proper with an official enquiry.
When John the Evangelist writes “the Jews” here (v. 19), he means the religious authorities in Jerusalem, as v. 24 shows: “they had been sent from the Pharisees”. It does not mean the Jewish people. Jesus, John and all the first disciples were themselves Jews, and the Church teaches that blame must not be laid on the Jewish people (CCC 597–598). An enquiry was a reasonable thing to make. They had a duty to look into someone stirring up crowds in the wilderness and using a rite of washing.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.” (1:8)
A sentence that could be the motto of every priest, catechist and parent.
“He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”” (1:20)
A solemn statement. Many commentators set this “I am not” (egō ouk eimi) against Jesus’ “I am” sayings later in the Gospel.
“And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”” (1:21)
Each answer is shorter than the one before. “The prophet” means the prophet like Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18:15–18.
“He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.” (1:23)
“John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know,” (1:26)
This is the Gospel’s Advent message. The one we wait for is already among us, not yet recognised.
“the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”” (1:27)
Untying sandals was the task of a slave. A later Jewish saying holds that a disciple should do everything for his teacher except this. John considers himself unworthy even of that.
“This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.” (1:28)
A note on the text. This is not the Bethany of Lazarus, near Jerusalem. Origen could not find this place and preferred the reading “Bethabara”, which is found in some manuscripts. The oldest manuscripts have Bethany.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that John, by his preaching and by his baptism, prepares the way, and is the Lord’s immediate forerunner (CCC 523). St Augustine draws out the contrast: John is the voice for a time, and Christ is the eternal Word; the voice passes, once it has brought the Word to the heart, and the Word remains (in substance). This is why John says later, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (3:30). That is the joy of Gaudete Sunday: to be glad that it is not about us.
Jesus says John is Elijah (Matthew 11:14), and John says he is not. Which is right?
Both. John denies being the historical Elijah returned in person. Jesus means that he comes “with the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). So St Gregory the Great explains it (in substance).
Does Paul teach that man has three parts: spirit, soul and body?
The Catechism says that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. “Spirit” signifies that from creation we are ordered to a supernatural end (CCC 367). Paul’s point here is that God wants to sanctify the whole person.
How can Paul command joy? Feelings cannot be ordered.
Christian joy is not a mood. It is what comes from the fact that the Lord has come and will come again, and it can stay alongside tears. Paul writes this to people under persecution, and he himself knew prison and beatings. That is why it is set beside prayer and thanksgiving, which can be chosen.
In the Roman Rite this Sunday marks a change within Advent. Rose vestments may replace violet, and the third candle of the Advent wreath, often rose in colour, is lit. Advent has two parts: until 16 December the prayers look more to the Lord’s final coming, and from 17 December they prepare more directly for Christmas. Today’s readings stand close to that turning point. Because 13 December this year falls on a Sunday, the memorial of St Lucy is not kept as it would be on a weekday, but her name, which is connected with “light”, fits with a Gospel about one who testifies to the light.