PODCAST | Gaudete Sunday
In this meditation for the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Fr Javier del Castillo reflects on the profound meaning of this passage from St Paul – “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
“We ought to rejoice. This is something really important, absolutely necessary, to rejoice in the Lord always because the Lord is near.”
“This presence of the Lord is the cause of our joy because it makes us joyful and makes us happy… not only when things are going well… always, no matter what… and then we can radiate our cheerfulness to others… doesn’t matter what’s happening on the outside… what matters is that we be close to our Lord. And only insofar as we let our Lord be close to us can we be truly joyful, cheerful, and can we radiate cheerfulness to others.”
To have this joy and cheerfulness starting this Advent and Christmas we can follow three steps:
1. Prayer
2. Forgiveness
3. Service (Jesus, others and then yourself)
Mary, Cause of Our Joy, pray for us!
Rev. Javier del Castillo
Fr. Javier del Castillo is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei and currently serves as President of the St. Josemaria Institute. He earned a degree in electronic engineering and moved to Rome to complete his ecclesiastical studies, where he was ordained a priest in 2005 and earned a doctorate in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in 2007. He worked as a chaplain in high schools in the Washington, D.C. and Chicago areas for several years, offering spiritual accompaniment to students, parents, and teachers. From 2015 on, he served as the vicar of Opus Dei in the midwest; he was appointed regional vicar of the United States in 2022. He became vicar of the United States and Canada in 2024, following the restructuring of the regions, until his appointment as Vicar General in April 2025.
