Third Sunday in Advent Year A (Gaudete Sunday)

Are you the one who is to come,
or have we got to wait for someone else?

3rdsundayadventIn many ways the readings this Sunday are simply a continuation of last week – Isaiah gives us more details about the work of the Messiah, and Paul invites us to continue to be patient until the Lord’s Coming. What is slightly different is the voice of John the Baptist this week: last week in Matthew 3 he was proclaiming with utter confidence that “someone is coming”. Now, in Matthew 11, he asks Jesus from prison: “Is it you?”  For us, as we listen to these scriptures, we are being offered something very particular – the prophecies of Isaiah (and indeed the prophet John the Baptist) are pinned down firmly and securely in the person of Jesus, Son of Mary – in fact, Jesus himself, in his reply to John says as much: “I am the Messiah that Isaiah prophesied.” Again we are invited to hold the images of the prophecies in our minds until Christmas, when we can look on the child in the manger and say “We know who this is: it is the promised Messiah – God who comes to save us!”

First Reading: Isaiah 35: 1-6, 10

Res: Come, Lord, and save us.           

Second Reading: James 5: 7-10

Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:2-11

Mass Times

Christmas Eve:   St David’s 6pm
Our Lady’s 9pm

Christmas Day:  Our Lady’s 9am
St David’s 10.30am

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