Do Joy
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: rejoice!” Today in our second reading, St. Paul is reminding us of the joyful hope that we have in the nearness of our Lord. As Christmastide draws near we are to dress ourselves in our Christmas best and the appropriate attire of Christmas is joy. Even now in Advent we should be preparing our wardrobe and putting on our joy in the news of the coming of the Lord. This Sunday is traditionally known in the Church as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of rejoicing. In the midst of our continuing conversion during this season of preparation and of our fervent prayer we are reminded that there must be an underlying sense of joy in all of our Advent activities. During this season of holiday cheer we often see street-corner Santas that are ringing a bell and offering a hearty, “Ho, ho, ho.” As children of God we should also be ringing out our joy in the nearness of our God. Our Christ-centered tolling of good news as Christians should sound louder than the secular Santa with his appeal to fraternal charity. After all, as the Knights of Columbus are reminding us, we want to keep Christ in Christmas.
In the gospel we also hear John the Baptist calling us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord. We need to “deck the halls” of our lives with signs of the presence of Jesus Christ alive in our hearts. All manner of people are asking John today, “What should we do?” They want to prepare their hearts to receive the Christ who comes. We are told that the people were “filled with expectation,” which is truly an Advent attitude. John does not give them something impossible to do, rather, he offers them a way to new life that begins with where they are right now. He doesn’t tell them to change who they are, which would probably be impossible for many of them, but he encourages them to change how they live out their vocations. Within their own vocations they are to be a sign of the compassion and mercy of Christ.
As we near the final days of Advent and are “filled with expectation” for the coming of our Lord at Christmas we should also be asking the Lord, “What should we do?” Called to a New Evangelization this question is especially relevant to us today. St. Paul gives us some good pointers in his letter to the Philippians. He first reminds us, “Your kindness should be known to all.” The season of Advent and Christmas should be marked by kindness. In our kindness we should be joyfully giving to those most in need during this season. We should not merely give “things” but more importantly we should give of ourselves by sharing a smile, offering a joyful greeting, join in some caroling, sending joyful greetings in Christmas cards and visiting those who are shut-ins. Perhaps those people are right next door to us and would enjoy some Christmas cookies.
Our joyful demeanor demonstrates that we “have no anxiety at all” but are confident in the love of our God for all people. After all, “the Lord is near,” and Jesus is the Emmanuel, the sign of God’s presence with us in our human journey of faith. Paul also reminds us to be mindful of God’s providential care in our frequent prayers. Advent should be a time of prayerful reflection on the Lord’s goodness and kindness to all, moving us to prayers of thanksgiving and praise. God is preparing a wonderful gift for us all in the birth of Jesus his Son. During this Advent we reflect upon the promises of God in the scriptures of Isaiah and the other prophets like Zephaniah today. The Lord is in our midst through his word and sacrament and we need to reflect his presence in our prayers and celebrations of the sacraments, for “he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals.”
Henri Nouwen reminds us, “Our expectation leads to joy and our joy to a desire to give to others. Real joy always wants to share. It belongs to the nature of joy to communicate itself to others and to invite others to take part in the gifts we have received.” John “preached good news to the people” and we should also take up that work of the New Evangelization in our Advent season today. As Advent draws to a close, let us renew our faith in the nearness of God and in the joyful fulfillment of his promises in Jesus the Christ. He is truly the “reason for the season” that we joyfully celebrate today!