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| My daughter helps me type my homily. |
“Rejoice! Rejoice in Moments of Happiness & Rejoice
of Moments of Difficulty” (Homily #169 for Gaudete Sunday)
I.
In today’s First Reading,
it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah, “Those
whom the LORD has ransomed will return, and enter Zion singing, crowned with
everlasting joy; they will meet with joy and gladness.” Today, you enter this Zion of the Church with
joy. So Rejoice! Rejoice in our moment of happiness as we
enter into the final 9 days or novena before the birth of the Newborn
King. [That ends the first main part:
Rejoice!]
II.
Now, for this
second main part, this may be more difficult to accept: Rejoice not just in
moments of happiness but rejoice in moments of sorrow. I mean, after all, we might think how can one
really have joy and contentment during a time of trial? Well, John the Baptist once again becomes a
model for us this Advent. While in
prison, John is greatly consoled by Jesus.
So when we, like John, are in our own prison of sorrow, our dungeon of
loneliness and depression, our jail chains of grieving at the loss of a loved
one, or enduring mental illness, John shows us that it is not our own
strength that will give us joy. But
rather, it is Jesus who gives us true joy. Through Jesus’ words and presence during his
prison time, John is strengthened with true happiness to endure to the
end. Just as Jesus sent a consoling word
to John while John was in the prison of his persecution and eventual death, so
too Jesus today sends you a word of hope during our dry, desert and confined
prisons of feeling no way out. Jesus’s
words to John are words for us in our lowliness, and we become the poor to whom
Jesus announces true joy: Jesus said, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their
sight, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news
proclaimed to them. This is
Gaudete joy in the midst of sorrow! And
this is reason for us to rejoice!
Sure, like John,
we too will perhaps have a moment of questioning Jesus as the true source of
our joy in the middle of feeling down.
John too questioned Jesus from prison, "Are
you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" [CUT OUT IF TOO LONG:] We too ask: Are you the one I should look for in my moment of
darkness? Or should I look for another
solution apart from you, Jesus? Are you
Jesus really the one to give me joy and contentment and interior peace or
should I look for it somewhere else? Are
you the one I should look for when I am grieving the loss of my loved one, or
is some other unhealthy outlet? Are you
the one Jesus whom I should look for in my period of loneliness and hurt and
trouble or should I look for it at the bottom of a drink excessively, or
harming myself or others or violence or excessive gambling or other unhealthy
outlet?
And in these moments of desolation, our words are that of the Responsorial
Psalm, “Come Lord and save us.” Come
Lord! With John, we too proclaim that Jesus
is the Lamb of God. Only life with
Jesus has meaning during sadness. In today’s
second reading from the letter of James, James writes about being patient while
enduring prison, “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient
with it, until it receives the early and the late rains.” The Word of God calls us to be patient and to
have endurance. Endurance is that virtue
of the saints that they possessed.
Persevere. Rest, but don’t
quit. “And rejoice that Jesus is with you
through our prison of low moments.
As
we come to the closing of Advent in the next 9 days, Jesus today reminds us to
rejoice. Our response to his invitation
are the words of the Responsorial Psalm:
‘’Lord come and save us!’’ These are the very last words of the Bible:
Come, Lord Jesus! Maranatha! May the Lord Jesus come into our hearts
today. And may we, like John the
Baptist, truly rejoice!
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