We heard in the Gospel: "the poor have the Good News preached to them." How do you feel when you hear good news? Of course, rejoicing. Joy. Today is Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday.
What is the essence of the Good News? How is it summed up? Everyone should know this. It's in the ever-popular John 3:16…we used to see it in sports events. "For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die, but have everlasting life." Meaning – in Christ, we are going to live forever in the glorious presence of the One who is LOVE… not only after our physical earthly death, but even in the here and now… as both John the Baptist and Jesus said: The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Christmas is about joy. The angel said to the shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy . . .” Whatever other enjoyments we may have during this season, the true joy of Christmas comes from the realization that our deepest longings have been met in the divine gift of God’s own self in Jesus Christ… and so – We Rejoice in the Lord!
The Old Testament expresses the joyful EXPECTATION of the great significant thing God will do… as we heard in the First Reading from Isaiah.
The New Testament is full of joyful RESPONSE for the significant thing God has done… Promise has already been fulfilled. Jesus said: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regained their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”
As Christians, we celebrate the “event” Christmas commemorates. Christmas is about a birth, a birth in this very real world of time and space.
Meaning - God, although He is outside of time and space, has come within reach. God is not remote, not out there somewhere. God is “Emmanuel” - - “God with us.” Flesh and blood. One of us.
This good news is the true basis of Christmas joy. God makes Himself available to us in this desperate troubled world.
Perhaps – as some of you might say: “I really would like to be joyful, but I am hurting too badly.” Maybe you lost a job, lost your home, lost your health or broke a relationship, lost a loved one and this might be the first Christmas without your loved one, … and so you might say: As much as I want to, I really cannot bring myself to be joyful this Christmas.
With all due respect, if that is how you feel, there is something very important – hopefully for you to realize and see – that Christmas joy is not the absence of suffering. The world may define joy this way, but not the gospel. Christmas joy is a mysterious joy in suffering, joy through suffering, joy in spite of suffering. The complete Christmas story involves a cross. Actually, Christmas points to Good Friday and Easter.
Instead of yearning for a problem-free life, let us rejoice that troubles can actually bring us into deeper awareness of God’s presence in our lives.
What we celebrate at Christmas is true every day of the year. God is always coming to us. God is present in all things, even in our suffering. God is at work in all things to bring some unforeseen good even out of sufferings and trials. This is what we see clearly as Christians at Christmas, and this is the source of a very special joy.
As we heard from our first reading - The prophet Isaiah speaks of what God can do with our desolation: “…They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee. The desert and the parched land will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.”
So – Are you in a kind of desert of life, so to speak, right now? Where is your desert, your wilderness? It is there in every person’s life. No one’s life is all rosy and trouble-free. Every life has desert places. The great prophet Isaiah declares that God brings life out of death. God does not just give life. God brings life out of death.
The desert is a graphic metaphor of what life can become. Some people are living in a seemingly hopeless situation, where they find nothing but emptiness and an unrelieved dryness and so, they may not respond to sermons or words of encouragement no matter how good they may sound… Admittedly, even the most eloquent words are not enough to console a sorrowful heart.
But - as Christians, we need to continue to proclaim and share the Good News of God’s love, grace and mercy/the Joy of the Gospel… and we are all called to be the prophets of our time. As Christians, Jesus invites us to follow Him into the desert places of people’s lives and to invest ourselves there… meaning, we are called to share in Jesus’ mission of proclaiming the Good News of God’s love, grace and mercy not only in words but by our very lives. St. Francis of Assissi said: “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” The power of love can give hope to those in despair.
So – if you are hurting, facing difficulties in life, trust God, for someday, you will discover little streams of water running through your desert… so to speak. This hope is the source of our joy… joyful hope. And hope in God reminds us that in the end, because everything passes, God will bring all things to joy.
Remember, we have an eternity of trouble-free living awaiting us in heaven.
… something to look forward to… to be excited about.
There is this song – J O Y
J for Jesus; O for Others; Y for You…that’s all the lyrics plus “she bee do bee do” … sang repeatedly in 1950’s dance music.
J for Jesus – meaning - we need to have Jesus first – as the center of our life… we need to surrender our lives to God; love God first… and discern and follow His will for us.
O for Others… meaning, let us focus on helping others who are in their desert, so to speak.
Lastly, Y for Yourself. In other words, in plain language, if you want to be happy, make other people happy.
You will discover that those who practice J-O-Y, in that sequence, are the ones who enjoy peace and joy, and that those who practice “me first”, "self first" are always the unhappy and miserable ones.
Jesus, Others and then Yourself… just as Jesus emptied Himself out of obedience to God our Father in order to save us. If we follow Christ, and share in His mission and carry our own cross daily, then we will share in His joyful and glorious resurrection.
Meaning - If we get our priorities right, we will experience true and lasting joy and happiness every day of our life…regardless of any situations we might find ourselves in.
What brought joy and hope in the midst of horrible stories that came out of the Covid 19 pandemic and all the tragedies this past year - are stories of people selflessly forgetting themselves, forgetting their own safety and misery in order to save lives… to help others.
We heard stories of faith and hope…. that God is in control …. That God will bring good out of what seem to be a horrible situation… and it this hope – in God - that allows us to endure challenging crises in our lives.
Advent is all about looking forward – waiting in joyful hope (not wishful thinking) – but joyful expectation – Joyful Waiting - for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives.
On this Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday, let us focus on the joy we have that the Lord has come into the world and will continue to come into our lives to help in all our needs.
Jesus said: Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, then who is the least in the kingdom of heaven yet greater than John the Baptist? The Good News is – He is talking about US! You and Me! We are greater than John … because we have Christ IN us.
So – Let us all rejoice always.
Joy to the World and Joy in Our Hearts. Amen.
God bless…
