Rejoice in Giving
Gaudete Sunday is here! This third Sunday of Advent calls us to recognize the way the Lord is already at work in our lives and the world around us and to then rejoice! ‘Guadete’ is the Latin for ‘rejoice’, and we derive this name from the entrance antiphon of the Mass: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-5). As we reflect on how Christ is present among us, let us reflect on the many ways parishioners have given their ‘yes’ to Christ by serving our neighbors.
This past November, the fifth grade Faith Formation class put together a food drive for the Salvation Army. Here is a note from our students:
740 pounds of food were donated to the Salvation Army food shelf. This is providing a day’s worth of food for 185 people! This number is based on the average person consuming four pounds of food per day.
The food drive was our service project. Thank you for supporting our desire to help feed the hungry in our community. What happened over these few weeks reminds us of Jesus’ miracle of a few loaves and fishes feeding thousands of people (Mt 16:32-38). We could never have collected all this food without your help! Thank you for being an example to us of how we can show great kindness to others.
-The Fifth Grade Faith Formation Students
Co-Cathedral parishioners volunteer to pack boxes at Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester, MN.
What a beautiful witness our young people offer us regarding the call to feed the hungry! Just as Jesus multiplied their ‘yes’ to serve the hungry, so does Jesus radiate in all our actions. Parishioners also joined together to answer this same call early in December by serving at Channel One Regional Food Bank. A group of fourteen parishioners worked to pack five pallets full (about 200 boxes) worth of food that will go to feed those experiencing food insecurity all across southeastern Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin. On the very same day, parishioners also worked together to serve a meal to single mothers and their families at Jeremiah Program in Rochester.
We are grateful to see how Christ continues to move us all into action and in different ways. Parishioners are actively saying yes in ways that connect with the unique gifts God has given to them. Later this month, several parishioners will offer their skill of baking to contribute Christmas cookies for Sunday Lunch, a meal offered on Sundays by the Rochester-area Catholic Churches for those experiencing hunger at St. Francis of Assisi Church.
True joy spreads outward, and in these actions, these ways of saying yes to different opportunities, we can see how Christ urges us to not keep our rejoicing just within the pews of the Church or the walls of our homes. Christ is coming and has arrived to invite us to step forward and go outward in joy.
As a final example, many families came forward to participate in Adopt-a-Family and the Jeremiah Program’s Winter Wishes. Twenty five families will receive this special generosity for the holiday season. We have such tremendous gratitude for all who stepped forward and offered this special witness of love and joy. As people dropped off gifts at the Parish Center, the loving joy with which each was wrapped reached to many staff members and visitors.
All of these examples are witnesses of Christ at work. We rejoice in them not to applaud ourselves, but rather to recognize how each of us has the capacity to say yes and allow Jesus to bring joy into our lives and the lives of those around us. This is a beginning for each one of us. How might the Lord be calling you to say yes today?