Today we celebrate ‘Gaudete Sunday.’ Gaudete means ‘Rejoice.’[i] We often see our clergy wearing rose-colored vestments and we light a rose-colored candle in the Advent wreath, the candle of joy. As we journey with Our Lady towards Jesus' Nativity, we pause to celebrate the joy of this expectation.
In our first reading, Isaiah promises that when the Lord’s Servant comes to vindicate his people, he will strengthen the weak and calm the hearts of those who are frightened. His salvation will include opening the eyes of the blind, causing the deaf to hear, the lame to leap, and the mute to sing. They will enter Zion singing. The Lord will crown his people with everlasting joy. Sorrow and morning will flee, when the Lord pours out his joy and gladness upon his people.
Joy is an affection of the soul, closely linked with the emotion of delight or the satisfaction of our desires. Joy is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and an effect of the theological virtue of charity. Psychologically the emotion of joy is a feeling of delight or extreme gladness. Even psychologists view joy as an “exultation of the spirit arising from a sense of well-being or satisfaction.”[ii] Joy can be a passive sense of tranquility or an active desire to share this feeling with others.
We can distinguish between natural joy in created things and spiritual joy which comes from a reflection on the Divine good[iii] which arises from hope. [iv] Although spiritual joy arises from hope it is also reflexive, when we are joyful, we experience greater hope. We can also experience supernatural joy as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, Romans 15:13).
As I reflect on the notion of joy, I can ask myself, do I experience joy in my faith? I need to be honest with myself about this becasue, a joyless faith is defective.
I don’t know about you, but ‘Gaudete Sunday’ is a good time to examine my heart on my experience of joy.
Our Gospel for the Third Sunday of Advent (Matthew 11:2-11) continues to highlight John the Baptist. His life is part of the family history of Jesus and shows us the fulfillment of the Old Testament. St Matthew tells us that when John the Baptist heard from prison, about the mighty works and miracles that Jesus was performing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (11:3).
We each need to ask ourselves this same question. In today’s world, we cannot assume that everyone understands who Jesus is. Is Jesus the one? Do we truly believe he has come to satisfy our desires?
In answer to John the Baptist’s question, Jesus understands himself as the spirit-anointed Servant from Isaiah (11 and 61). Jesus answers John’s disciples by pointing out his fulfilment of a number of key passages from Isaiah about the Suffering Servant. Both our first reading from Isaiah 35 and our Psalm (146), highlight a number of these fulfillments, but the complete fulfillment relates to at least four sections of Isaiah.
"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight (Isaiah 29:18; 35:5; cf. Psalm 146), the lame walk (Isaiah 35:6), lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear (Isaiah 35:5; cf. Psalm 146), the dead are raised (Isaiah 26:19), and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them (Isaiah 29:19; 61:1)” (Matthew 11:4-5).
Jesus is not citing a single passage but showing how he fulfills Isaiah’s entire prophecy of the coming spirit-filled Servant of the Lord. In fact, he fulfills all of Scripture. Jesus has come to proclaim a new age of the Spirit (Isaiah 61:2), a year of the Lord’s favor (Isaiah 61:2). This coming of the Spirit will bring God’s people comfort, joy and gladness (Isaiah 29:19; 35:10; 61:1).
Jesus’ mission from the Father is to be the fulfillment of all desire. This is joy! While it includes natural joy, he is primarily wanting to inspire spiritual or supernatural joy in our hearts by relationship with him.
The coming of the Spirit will bring about a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) and a New Law written on our hearts. The Holy Spirit now guides us from the heart, rather than merely by following an external checklist of rules. God’s forgiveness is not a contractual matter. In fact, it is impossible to earn God’s favor by being good.
Through God’s infinite mercy, we all become adopted sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ. We are brought into communion with Christ and the Holy Spirit especially though Baptism and Holy Communion (Ephesians 3:20). God’s act of forgiveness invites us into a relationship with him, or into communion with him.
The overall theme of Advent is a time of joyful expectation and of preparation for the Lord’s coming. The person and preaching of John the Baptist invite us to prepare our hearts by repenting and renewing our commitment to the coming King. While this sounds difficult, God promises us joy!
In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks the crowds, “What did you go out to the desert to see?”
Why did all those people go out to see John the Baptist in the desert? In today’s world, perhaps it was John’s new fad diet. Eat the John the Baptist diet, and I guarantee you will lose twenty pounds in one week. Forget the Keto diet, just eat bugs! Joking aside, Jesus says they went out to see a prophet.
John the Baptist called the people to first renew their faith as God’s children and then to respond by a baptism of repentance. Joy comes from the heart. If we separate morality from relationship and a conversion of the heart, we end up with mere joyless rule-following. We reduce the faith to duty and legalism. I promise you this is not joy!
Those who try and fail at following the rules, turn away in discouragement. Those who appear to succeed in following the rules wrongly fill themselves with pride and see themselves as ‘better rule followers’ in comparison to others. The truth is rules without relationship leads to rebellion and discouragement. It leads to a joyless faith.
Many Catholics seem to think our faith is mostly about following the rules, but again this is a joyless life.
Alternatively, someone else might approach his or her faith like driving the speed limit on the freeway. They go as fast as they think they can get away with, without getting caught, or punished. Have you ever heard some might say, “It’s only a venial sin, it’s no big deal!”
The Catechism reminds us that God's New Covenant requires a New Law. What does this mean? The Catechism notes, “The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ, operating through charity” (CCC 1983). The New law operates in our hearts from within.
In case I have made someone nervous, we are not tossing out the Ten Commandments, we are instead bringing them to perfection in a new way. The new framework is personal relationship with God and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. God calls us not to mere duty but to the joyful pursuit of happiness in relationship with him and in the power of the Spirit. Our happiness is linked to God’s own goodness.
How can we build this relationship and open our hearts to receive joy?
Many saints have told us about the power of prayer. St. John Chrysostom says that “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.”
Likewise, our namesake, St. Thérèse of Lisieux notes, "It is the spirit of gratitude which draws down upon us the overflow of God's grace, for no sooner have we thanked Him for one blessing than He hastens to send us ten additional favors in return.”
We must begin with the realization that God loves us, and we are his children. He desires our happiness. He will not necessarily protect us from suffering but will ultimately bring us joy.
Yet we might ask how can we say God desires to give us joy if we end up suffering? How can Jesus be the fulfillment of all desire and yet allow us to suffer. Perhaps only those who have accompanied Jesus in the mystery of suffering can rightly bear witness to this joy. He is with us always. We are joined to him in our sufferings. He brings meaning to our sufferings.
As humans, we learn to trust in little steps. Perhaps we can begin by truthfully asking ourselves. Am I happy? Have I found joy in this life? On a spiritual level, have I tried to find joy and peace in my prayer with Jesus? I would invite you today to take a small step on this journey.
I believe that Jesus came to bring us joy and the fulfillment of all desire! This is his promise.
I challenge each one of you to prove him wrong. If your heart is not yet ready to trust in him completely … take the first step! Open your heart in prayer. Pour out all your desires before him and let him enter your heart.
NOTES:
[i] The original Latin introit or entrance antiphon for this Mass, sings the words of Philippians 4:4 -- Gaudete in Domino semper: “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
[ii] APA Dictionary of Psychology, https://dictionary.apa.org/joy
[iii] St Thomas, STh., II-II q.9 a.4 resp.
[iv] STh., II-II q.20 a.4 obj. 2
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