17 December 2020

Fr. Robert Imbelli on Savoring B&B During Advent

". . .Those of a certain (my) age remember the designation of Advent's Third Sunday as 'Gaudete Sunday' - a welcome reminder that Advent's expectant austerity is a joyful austerity. A salutary reminder more urgent in this time of enforced austerity, both physical and spiritual.

"Yet the perennial challenge, whether in times of stress or (ever relative) security, is to appropriate personally the new life that Jesus offers, that Jesus is. In terms so central to Saint John Henry Newman's preaching and writing: how are we to pass from a merely 'notional' to a 'real' understanding and experience of the saving truths of the faith? In the case of the entrance antiphon of [the Third Sunday of Advent] liturgy: how make real for ourselves that the Lord is truly near and that abiding in him is cause of exceeding joy?"

In a recent commentary, Father Robert P. Imbelli reflected on input from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) in appropriating more deeply the glad tidings this antiphon proclaims.

To access Fr. Imbelli's's complete post, please visit:

The Catholic Thing: Savoring B&B During Advent (13 DEC 20)

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