April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ADVENT REFLECTION
Week III: Rejoice, the Lord is near!
With each week of Advent, we are given markers or signs to guide us through this season and help us prepare for the coming of Jesus. So far, we have had the two spiritual guides of "watching and waiting" and of "preparing a way for the Lord".
Our signpost for this third week is a simple and yet potentially difficult message: Rejoice, for the Lord is near! This Sunday, we celebrate "Gaudete" or "rejoicing" Sunday, echoing the first words of the entrance antiphon for the Mass. We are asked to rejoice because the coming of our Lord and Savior is near.
The theme of rejoicing is marked in our readings, in our prayers and in the option of having rose-colored vestments and a rose-colored Advent wreath candle (rose being a mix of the purple of Advent and the white of Christmas).
The word "joy" occurs so many times in the Scriptures, in both the Old and the New Testaments - and yet it is not always an easy word to understand, let alone to live. It can be hard to be joyful if we are experiencing loss, hurt or a crisis in our lives.
Joy can also seem to be fleeting, superficial or frustratingly elusive. When, as Christians, we speak of joy - like other everyday words such as "love," "peace" or "freedom" - we need to recall that the word has a very particular meaning.
Despite all this, in our second reading at Mass on Sunday, St. Paul says, "Rejoice always." In fact, the word "joy" occurs 22 times in the letters of St. Paul.
He does not say this lightly or as a tired cliché. Remember that St. Paul suffered much, both personally and for preaching and living the Gospel. He asks us to rejoice in hope, in repentance, in salvation and even in suffering.
What does he mean? What exactly is Christian joy?
The Christian understanding of joy certainly does not mean pretending all is fine, putting on a happy face or a fixed smile when all is not good. The word used for "joy" in the New Testament is "chairete," and it is actually a word with many meanings and levels.
It first means a profound and real sense of God's love for us, a great feeling of trust and confidence in God so that, whatever happens, we have His love and care. Christian joy, then, is not superficial; nor does it depend on things going well, on circumstances or on others. Rather, it is a gift and an inner peace and strength that is there regardless of life and its ups and downs.
Christian joy is also a spiritual way of living and seeing ourselves, others and the world so that we are tuned into God's will. As Blessed Columba Marmion, an Irish monk who lived at the turn of the 20th century, wrote: "Joy is the very echo of God's life within us."
In this sense, joy is certainly an attitude toward life and a spiritual gift. It is also eminently practical - especially when, with God's help, we try to develop spiritual values and a way of everyday living that are joy-giving, rather than joy-killing.
A great exercise during this third week of our Advent journey might be to strengthen all those things that, spiritually speaking, bring us joy, and also to root out attitudes or values in our life that we know are joy-killers.
As we hear in the Gospel, St. John the Baptist proclaims that he is not the Christ and that one is coming after him who is so much greater than him. We can rejoice because that "greater one," Jesus Christ, comes to us.
As we begin what is probably a crazy and busy week ahead, whether at work or school or with Christmas preparations at home, let us live the words prayed at Mass today: "We wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."
(Father Barratt is pastor of St. Ambrose parish in Latham. He holds a doctorate in theology and was a professor at St. John's Seminary in England before coming to the U.S. in 2004.)[[In-content Ad]]
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