Shepherds’ Sunday

Ongkingco

The Third Sunday of Advent is liturgically called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete happens to be the first word of the entrance antiphon of the Mass for the Third Sunday of Advent inviting the faithful to rejoice because the Savior is near. This Sunday is also known as Shepherds’ Sunday because God deigned that the first invited guests to our Lord’s birth were to be simple shepherds grazing their sheep in that cold lonely night.

In the Advent wreath, one can easily spot the candle representing Gaudete Sunday because it is the only non-violet colored candle. It is either colored red or pink. The first candle of Advent is called Prophet’s Sunday to represent the prophesies about the Messiah; the second candle is Bethlehem Sunday which represents Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. The fourth is the Angel’s candle that represents the angels’ announcement of Christ’s birth.

St. Luke narrates the shepherd scene as follows:
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Shepherds’ Sunday reveals how humble shepherds are invited to the most important cosmic event after Creation: the Incarnation. The invitation, like most divine pronouncements, breaks all forms of protocol and formalities.

Great events, human ones at least, often require that the invited guests to bring gifts for the host or the celebrant. Great celebrations also entail some preparation, informing the guests ahead of time regarding the venue, the time and the attire.

However, the shepherds were informed about the event in an untimely hour, they clearly had no valuables to offer the celebrant and the only invite they carried was to seek an ‘infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger,’ and they went as they were in their shepherd’s apparel.

In these simple men, God indeed reveals his preference for the poor and the lowly. God continues, both historically and spiritually, to favor the humble, the oppressed and the weak because in and through them He is able to manifest His divine designs patently.

The shepherds, however, also bear another important lesson for us: it is in such conditions that one acquires the capacity to receive divine graces from God. Imagine, if they were in distracted by devices such as ‘earphones’, ‘smartphones’ and ‘tablets’, would they have taken notice and heeded the angels’ message to them?

Perhaps, one would jokingly quip that if such were the case, then the angels would have most likely have communicated the stellar event through Facebook or WhatsApp.

Yet, it is undeniable that despite torrent of ‘angelic signs’ communicated to us via social media, many still remain oblivious, neglectful and like Herod, resentful and angry towards Jesus’ humble birth in Bethlehem.

Shepherd Sunday calls us once again to embrace a humble and simple stance before God.

These dispositions represent who and what man truly is before God: nothing. And it is totally God’s initiative to surprise man with a gift that will transform, divinize and fill his nothingness with great joy!