The Third Sunday of Advent is also known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is the Latin verb “to rejoice” and this is the central message of the readings and prayers for Mass today. In Isaiah we hear the prophet say; "I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul." Saint Paul wrote to the Thessalonians; "Rejoice always." While it’s nice to hear someone remind us to "rejoice" the reality is that in the world and in our lives there are times when it is seems almost impossible to find joy. On the news we hear of wars, terrorist attacks and senseless massacres as happened not long ago in Las Vegas. We hear about hurricanes, earthquakes and fires that result in so much death and suffering.
Where is the joy in all of this? In our own lives we might be facing various trials of health, family tragedies, and relationships in distress. Ironically these times around the holidays often signify pain for many of us. Perhaps this will be the first Christmas without a parent, spouse, or loved one. Maybe we are quietly fighting depression and no one seems to notice. In this time of celebration and parties, those battling addiction encounter wave after wave of temptation. How can we be joyful with all these things going on around us? Is the biblical mandate to rejoice naive? Can it possibly be meant for those of us with real-life problems and worries?
When Saint Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians and told them to rejoice, he was not being entertained in the house of some wealthy Christian nor was he living the good life. It's easy to rejoice when everything goes right. But everything was not going well for Paul; he wrote this letter as he was being persecuted and fleeing from town to town.
Throughout his ministry Paul suffered significantly many times including stoning, beatings, shipwrecks, and imprisonment. Yet Paul never stopped rejoicing and he constantly encouraged the Christian Communities to do the same. When Paul speaks of joy he is not referring to a nice, fleeting feeling that makes one feel good. He is not telling us to walk around in a naive way, acting as if everything was perfect and everyone gets along as best friends. In truth, joy is not something you or I do, put on, or make happen. Joy is a gift from God, a gift of the Holy Spirit that radiates out of us if our hearts and souls are in sync with the Lord. Joy is intimately connected to peace and it is not limited to the wealthy, healthy, or carefree. So how do we get it? Or better yet, how does joy find us?
Joy is the result of our heart being at peace. Our heart can only be at peace when it finds something to love. We were made for love and that search drives our lives. The danger is to settle for something less than what we were meant for. Society often encourages us to love and be loved by things like wealth, power, prestige, and technology. These are good things but they are not the best things. They change and can be taken away or lost. If our hearts find their purpose and fulfillment in something that can be bought or sold then our joy is conditional and limited; it can be lost in the blink of an eye by a change in the stock market or the whims and decisions of others.
What about other people? Can they be the ultimate source of our joy? Is our happiness tied to finding a spouse, discovering a soul mate, or experiencing the blessing of a child? Relationships are truly one of the greatest blessings this life has to offer. They can and should make us happy. To be loved by another person and give our heart to someone else as a parent, friend, spouse, or priest will be the one of the highlights of any life. But if my joy is tied only to my relationships, there will be problems. Friendships change and sometimes fade away. Families have arguments. We should nurture and celebrate the relationships and friendships in our life but they must be directed towards God. My family and friends have been given to me by God to help me grow in holiness and get each other to heaven. If my relationships are not guided by that goal, they will ultimately let me down.
The rejoicing we are pointed towards today is the result of setting our hearts on God. If He is our heart’s desire and the purpose of our life, then we experience a joy and peace that cannot be taken away by any person or situation. God doesn’t change, He doesn’t break up with us, disown us, get sick of us, or move. His gifts of joy and peace cannot be lost in a stock market crash or stolen by identity thieves. His joy can co-exist even in intense moments of loss, suffering, and hardship. To know the love of God and set our heart on Him first and foremost is what enabled St. Paul to rejoice while being persecuted. It’s what allows the people so many of you have served in Nicaragua to be joyful and wise even though they have nothing by our standards. It’s what enables the inspiring people we have met in our lives, even though they were sick, weak with age, or even terminally ill, to smile, to ask how we were doing, and even comfort us. And all the while, we were thinking, “shouldn’t I be doing that for them?!”
Christian joy is not just smiling at other people. It is knowing in my heart, in my bones, that God is my everything and the only thing that saves me and gives my life meaning. It is believing that He will never leave me and nothing this world throws at me will take away His love. Not a failed exam, not a bad breakup, not a huge mistake at work, not the bullying and criticism of others, not even my own sins and failures. If God’s love and friendship is my heart’s desire, then we can rejoice always and everywhere. We don’t have to make ourselves smile, it happens on its own. Our joy and peace will be authentic and people will notice.
Pay attention to your heart today and throughout this week. Is joy present there? Where does it come from? Is it dependent on getting something or keeping someone in our lives? Is there someone or something that can steal my joy? Where does God and His love rank on the list of things I want? Lastly, if I feel like God is my priority, that my heart is full of his joy, does it show on my face, in my words, and through my actions?
Rejoicing is the surest sign of a faith that is alive and well. May we continue our Mass with grateful hearts and live this week with hearts set on Jesus, soon to be born in Bethlehem!
