Pink Sunday (12/17/2023)

It’s Pink Sunday. Well, actually, it’s Gaudete Sunday, and the liturgical color is “Rose.” But as a child, I thought it was wonderful that we had Pink Sunday. I was much older, studying Latin in high school when I learned that Gaudete meant “rejoice.” And while the priests reminded us every year that their vestments were “Rose,” I knew that they were really pink; I had eyes that could see. Today is that day for this Advent Season. I am not sure if the priest will tell us that it is “Gaudete Sunday” or not, but I will bet you the candy in my Christmas stocking that he tells us he is wearing “rose” and not “pink.” And I ask myself, why do we care so much about what other people think?

I am guilty of this myself so many times. I find myself explaining to others why I did something or said something. So many times in my life, I have had to “have a talk with myself” in front of a mirror, reminding myself that what others think of me is not the issue.

The issue is who I really am and how close I am to being the one I was created to be. So if that means I wear a hat on Sunday to remind myself of the LORD over me and my need to put on humility as I come before the LORD, and others think my hat is a sign of arrogance, I am to put on the hat anyway and pray even harder that the humility I am seeking will trump the pain of being misjudged.

The LORD created each and every one of us with a plan in mind for our wholeness and holiness, a path for us to take on our journey home. The LORD gifted us differently but graciously. Your gifts are different from mine. Your path will lead you home as surely as mine will lead me to the LORD. Each of us are called to discover through prayer and our spiritual lives the right path and to embrace the courage of the Spirit and stay on course. The judgments of others are not helpful; we must learn to not let them lead us astray.

And I have learned that part of our journey is encouraging others along the way, not judging them, but companioning them even though their journeys might be different from ours. To do this, we must learn the value of unity and that as diverse as we are as created children of one LORD we are called to be united in our love for that LORD and for one another. Diversity is never a justification for division.

As we make our way during this holy Advent season of preparation, let us take time this day to rejoice in the LORD’s divine design for our Salvation. Let us rejoice in the fact that we are almost to Christmas, almost to the day when we remember our LORD coming among us as our brother for the sake of our salvation and life with the LORD. Let us think of that wonderful time when the lowly shepherds and majestic magi stood watch over the same child – diverse but united in loving awe.

Pink or rose? Does it really matter? What really matters today is all the LORD has done so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. And that is indeed cause for rejoicing.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.