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Offertorium – 5
The Third Sunday of Advent is still known as “Gaudete” Sunday, from the first word of the Introit. Its antiphon is taken, not from any psalm, but from verses from
Antiphon: Philippians 4:4-6
Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis: sed in omni oratione petitiones vestrae innotescant apud Deum.
This derives from the Epistle for the day; indeed it uses almost all of it, for the full text is Philippians 4:4-7.
The antiphon imparts a note of rejoicing to the whole
The psalm-verse for the Introit is 84:2. Stan Metheny has already pointed out the frequency with which this psalm is employed in Advent, and its suitability for the season:
Benedixisti, Domine, terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob.
This verse is reprised, in a slightly amplified form, as the Offertorium:
Benedixisti, Domine, terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob: remisisti iniquitatem plebis tuae.
The Gradual is taken from another old friend, Ps. 79; we saw verse 2 of this used in the Introit for the Second Sunday of Advent. Another verse from the same psalm, is added here, and repeated in the Alleluia which follows on immediately from the Gradual, making clearer the link between the psalm and Advent:
Gradual: Qui sedes, Dominie, super Cherubim, excita potentiam tuam, et veni. Qui regis
Alleluia, alleluia. Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam et veni, ut salvos facias nos. Alleluia.
‘Stir up your power, and come, and save us.’ That neatly sums up the Church’s aspiration in Advent.
There remains the Communion Antiphon, which is not from a psalm, but selected from the Book of Isaiah, 35, verse 4, and as one might expect, is appropriate to the season:
Dicite: pusillanimes confortamini, et nolite timere: ecce Deus noster veniet, et salvabit nos.
‘Behold, our God will come, and save us.’ Very much the message of Advent.
