We are more than half-way through our Advent preparations for Christmas. We have already celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when we remember how God chose Mary before the foundation of the world to be without sin as she would be the mother of Jesus. On this Third Sunday of Advent, then, there is much cause for joy. Hence, following the Latin version of Philippians 4:4,we name this day Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday when we should rejoice in a special way.

For our Responsorial Psalm, we use a passage from Isaiah, where the prophet teaches Israel how to pray once she has been rescued from exile. Jesus used the prophecy of Isaiah to explain himself (cf. Lk 4, Mt 11), and, in the same way, especially during Advent we, too, frequently look to Isaiah to help us understand the great thing which God is doing for us in Jesus. Since God is the God of our salvation, we shall have faith and not be afraid, for our courage is not a mere human emotion: the Lord himself in his greatness is in our midst as our strength and our courage.