"He was not the light, only a witness to speak for the light". (John 1. v.8)

A  few years ago a book was published called The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. In it, author David J. Eicher tells the story of the conflict fro the heart of America. For over four years in the mid nineteenth century, at a cost of nearly 650,000 lives, the war raged. People from the same background shot, killed and maimed each other, burned each other's houses and ruined each other's lives,. As the book's publicity blurb says, "For all Americans, it was the longest night".

Night-time is an image that many people associate with fearfulness, unresolved problems and anxiety, even terror. Night-time rescues at sea or on mountains are always more fraught with danger, bedside vigils are more wearisome; being lost in the dark is more frightening. The longer the night, the worse all these conditions seem to be. The "rosy fingers of dawn", as the ancient Greek poet Homer described the breaking of morning into the night sky, are always a welcome, joyful sight.

John the Baptist was like a gleam or rosy light in the dark sky, drawing attention to the promise of the real daylight that would break into the world. The world at that time was as dark with sin and oppression as much of it is today: hunger brought on by warfare and the unequal distribution of the world's resources; neglect of those who are poor and weak; bullying dictators and fanatical terrorists. We can recognise that, and no doubt, add our own list of "dark night" attributes. Any news bulletin can furnish us with examples of people who have lost their way in the darkness of ignorance and, unfashionable though it may be to say so, of sin. Into that world of darkness, we welcome with relief and joy, the breaking light.

What sort of daylight is to break is described in the first reading [Isaiah 61. vv1-4, 8-11] - the same passage from Isaiah that Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue at Nazareth. He announces that Isaiah's words are fulfilled in him: good news to those who are poor, binding up broken hearts, proclaiming liberty to those who are trapped in whatever limits their lives - freeing them from fear, anxiety, unresolved problems, addictions. The passage describes the work of the Holy Trinity: The Father sending Christ to bring the good news, the Spirit inspiring all that Jesus does, and the anointed one himself, the Christ, the Messiah, bringing about the liberating salvation so longed for. The values of the worldly power are turned upside down, and those who are poor, the "have-nots", will be rewarded with all that they need. This is really good news - for all, especially for those who are in special need of it.

Such good news, such wonderful daylight pouring in over our world, surely makes us happy. |St Paul considers that we are people who are called to rejoice and be happy at all times. In our second reading today [1 Thessalonians 5. 16-24] he asks that his readers give thanks to God for everything, and never repress the spiritual gifts. As we are happy, as we glimpse the rosy-fingered dawn, we express this in the rose-coloured vestments worn today, in the rose-coloured candle on the Advent wreath, and even in the name given to this day, Gaudete Sunday "Rejoice Sunday", after the words of the Entrance Antiphon for this Mass.

Sometimes, caught up in the day-to-day turmoil of our lives, we forget this aspect of our faith. Too often we can give the impression of being a miserable people. It does us good to be reminded of the great blessings for which we are called always to be grateful and thankful: the knowledge that God loves us so much and came to bring us that good news; the promise that all barriers to freedom and to what prevents us living the fullness of life will be swept away in God's kingdom; the presence of the Holy Spirit always helping and urging us to create a more just and fair world.

As we shall soon be celebrating the birth of Christ, the coming of the light, let us, like John the Baptist, be witnesses to speak for the light. Let our witness be our joyfulness, our thankful attitude, our love of liberty and of life live with integrity and filled with praise.