3rd Sunday of Advent - C 2024

Joy is one of the essential characteristics of the Christian.  Jesus says that people will know we are His disciples if we love one another (cf. John 13:35).  The same could almost be said about joy.  They will know we are Christians by the authentic joy we have.  This is a joy that can only be found in Jesus and only comes from a relationship with Him.

Today we celebrate Gaudete Sunday.  Gaudete is the Latin word for “rejoice.”  It is in the imperative form which means that it is a command to rejoice, the same command we receive from St. Paul today.  And his letter, while originally written to those in the city of Philippi, is also written to you and me.  Why ought we to rejoice?  Because, as St. Paul says, “the Lord is near.”

When we think of the coming of the Lord at the end of the ages perhaps it invokes a sense of urgency and fear.  After all, when you read about the end of time and the second coming of Christ it can seem rather scary.  And yet Paul gives this as a reason for joy.  Because when the Lord comes everything that is broken will be fixed.  Everything that is not right will be made right.  The coming of the Lord will bring restoration and justice.  That should bring us joy.

Paul goes on to exhort his listeners to “have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”  Have no anxiety at all?  Thanks a lot, Paul.  If you were anxious about something and someone told you not to worry it doesn’t usually help.  And yet he wouldn’t give us a command if we didn’t have some level of control over our anxiety.  Paul derives his teaching from Jesus who speaks about anxiety several times.  One of these times is when Jesus says to Martha “you are anxious about many things but only one thing is necessary” (Luke 10:42).  Anxiety distracts us from what is truly and fundamentally necessary in the Christian life which is our union with God.  When we obsess and worry about things, big and small, we run the danger of forgetting what truly matters, the one thing necessary which is the truth that God loves us, that God loves you.

And then Paul gives us the antidote to anxiety: in your prayer and in all things, give thanks.  It’s gratitude that will anchor the heart in the joy that we are commanded to have.  This is because when we make acts of gratitude we turn our gaze from whatever poses a threat to God’s care for us.  To make an act of gratitude is to willfully adopt a new perspective on your circumstances.  And so, because we can choose to have gratitude, we do have some measure of control over our anxiety and, consequently, our joy.

But what exactly is joy?  It’s a word that gets tossed around a lot and is often understood as merely another word for happiness.  However, joy is different from pleasure and happiness.

Pleasure and happiness are circumstantial.  They are contingent upon circumstances exterior to us and circumstances often outside of our control.  If we achieve or obtain something then we’re happy.  And when this experience or thing passes so does our happiness.  For example if you have a good meal, you go on vacation, or your favorite football team wins then you’re happy.  Happiness is happenstance, what happens to you.  Joy is different in that it abides regardless of one’s circumstances, regardless of what happens.

Joy is the abiding and prevailing sense of wellbeing.  It comes from a unique perspective on the world that we choose as disciples of Jesus.  It’s the sense that even if our circumstances are miserable we know that the one thing necessary is never taken from us.  Regardless of changing circumstances we can choose joy because we have a God who knows us, loves us, and wants us.  This doesn’t change and isn’t happenstance.

G.K. Chesterton said that joy is the secret of the Christian.  In all circumstances we can have joy.  The martyrs in Rome had joy.  The hermit saints who were always subjecting themselves to discomfort and harsh penances had joy.  The saints who were poor had joy.  The saints who were put in German concentration camps in World War II, St. Edith Stein and St. Maximilian Kolbe, had joy.

We have only ten days left until Christmas.  Every day I want you to think of one thing to be thankful for.  Focus on the reasons you have to be grateful.  Christmas is a beautiful time of the year.  For many it is also a time of high stress.  For others it’s a time of sorrow as they mourn the loss of a loved one or the brokenness of family life is highlighted.  And yet, even in these circumstances we can choose joy.  We can choose to have gratitude, to adopt a heavenly perspective on our world.  Always choose gratitude, always choose joy.  And pray for God to help us adopt this posture of gratitude and this eternal perspective.

I will leave you with the words of St. Teresa of Avila: “Let nothing trouble you.  Let nothing frighten you.  Everything passes.  God never changes.  Patience obtains all.  Whoever has God wants for nothing.  God alone is enough” (Poesias, 30).