“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!

Gaudete Sunday. Third Sunday in Advent. December 12th, 2010

“Rejoice and be glad for the salvation we have hoped for is here!” The Church celebrates today Gaudete Sunday; it is a foretaste in advance of the joy of the Savior’s birth. Today, we are again reminded of why we have Advent; Advent is a privilege time of preparation in which we prepare to enter fully into the joy of Christ’s coming at Christmas. It is also a time to remind us to prepare so that we will be able to experience joyfully and without fear, Jesus final coming at the end of the world or the end of our lives, which ever comes first.

But Advent is also meant to be in and of itself a time of Joy. Because it is also a time to remind us that every day of our lives should be a time of joy, because we know Jesus has already come; He is God with us Emmanuel. And where there is Jesus there is joy, not matter what our external circumstances may be. Where there is Jesus there is joy even in the midst of our heaviest crosses, our greatest pain and sufferings, even in our greatest darkness, even when all else seems lost.

If there is one thing that marks our present age, we can say it is an age, which is lacking in joy, which does not know true joy; it is an age of great sadness. It is an age of great abundance; many have so much, but yet at the same time feel so empty so sad. So many are seeking happiness in the world, not knowing that this world and the things of this world just cannot give the kind of happiness for which they are seeking, for which their hearts are longing.

The Liturgy of today’s Holy Mass goes against this present sadness and lack of joy. It’s readings repeats the words of St. Paul in which he urges the first Christians of Philippi to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!” St. Paul gives them the reason for this profound happiness…the reason is that the Lord is at hand.

This is the reason also why we should have great joy, not only in Advent but every day of our lives. Our Faith offers us a true Christian joy, which goes beyond any merely earthly happiness. It comes from the fact, the reality that Jesus is very near to us; nearer to us than we are to ourselves; that we are friends of God and that He has made us His beloved sons and daughters in Christ who has come and who is here with us now.

And so St. Paul gives us the reason, the origin of our sadness and lack of joy; it comes from putting a distance between ourselves and God who is truly with us. This distance comes from our sins. It comes by not making our relationship with Christ the priority, not only of our Advent and Christmas preparations, but also by not making it a priority every day of our lives. This whole life is really meant to be a preparation for Christ; an Advent if you will, to grow closer to Him so that we may be able to truly enter into the Joy of that eternal Christmas in Heaven.

And so, sadness comes from looking for happiness in the world instead of in the presence of Christ in our souls through the grace of the Sacraments. Sadness comes from failing to grow in intimacy with Christ through the same sacraments and through intimate daily conversation with Him in prayer; it comes from failing to Adore and worship God, by failing to Love the Lord God with our whole hearts, minds, bodies, souls and all our strength; and out of that Love for God, loving our neighbor as ourselves.

We will be truly joyful if Our Lord is really present in our lives; that is, if He is really the priority of our lives, if we have not lost sight of Him. If we have not lost sight of Him by allowing our vision of Him to be clouded by other worldly preparations, that while maybe necessary, are not the one thing that matters. We will be truly joyful if we have not lost sight of Jesus by our lack of generosity, forgetting ourselves in our service to Him and service to one another.

We will also be truly joyful when we strive to share what we have with others, our faith, our possessions, our time, talent and treasure, in a word our love for others, especially in our family and our parish family, for charity begins at home. We will be joyful when we truly help one another to be joyful by, as St. Paul’s says, “bearing one another’s burdens…” Often we can bring joy to others and make life more pleasant for them in very little ways, by showing them that we appreciate them by a smile, a friendly remark, a word of praise, not making a great fuse over unimportant things that would be better off overlooked and forgotten, or just simply by a word of encouragement. An important part of our vocation as Christian, of our mission as Christians, is to bring joy to a world, which is so very sad of heart because it has drifted away from God. In this we keep our own joy alive.

When we try to find happiness in paths that draw us farther away from God, we find only sorrow and misery instead. Worldly happiness leads inevitably to sadness; But the Good New is that Jesus is near; and where Jesus is there is Joy. In this holy season of Advent the Church reminds us that unless we separate ourselves from the only source of true happiness and joy-Jesus, nothing and nobody can take our joy and our hope away from us.

And so, the advent call for repentance is a call for repentance throughout our lives. Repentance is merely our God reminding us that the world and the things of the world can only present us with an illusory happiness, a happiness that is passing and fleeting. If we go through periods of feeling unhappy, alone, bored or empty, maybe we have placed our trust in the wrong things to bring us happiness and joy and as result have weakened or even lost not only our joy but also our hope.

Let us get ready for this Christmas by being close to Our Lady. Let us ask her to help us convince others that the Origin of true joy and happiness is here, that He has been really born in Bethlehem. To do this, Let us ask her to help us to believe it ourselves, by making Holy Mass a priority in our lives, by visiting this same babe who truly present on our altars or in the Tabernacle. Let us ask her to help us prepare to receive Jesus more fully in Holy Communion by making a sincere and thorough confession, not only in order to make room for Him in the inn of hearts, but to clear away the impurity of sin and selfishness that prevents us from being able to see that He is already present there, so that we may behold His face and be transformed by His love in order to enter into Union with Him and through Him the Father and the Holy Spirit…the source of all joy.

May we today at this Holy Mass offered in this advent season pray for a deeper joy and a deeper desire for heaven, and may we pray for an increase in joy by possessing heaven even on earth, which is Jesus and His love fully alive in our souls; May we then share with others this Jesus whom we already possess and who possesses us.

Holy Mary, Cause of our Joy; Our Lady of the New Advent pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen.