A New Kind of Joy

Third Sunday of Advent

Zeph 3, 14-18a / Phil 4, 4-7 / Lk 3, 10-18

Joy is in the air – at least, it should be according to our readings.  From the prophet Zephaniah we hear:  “Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion!”  And St. Paul practically shouts to us:  “Brothers and sisters:  Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: rejoice!”  So the message is clear.  It’s joy.  It’s Gaudete Sunday.

To be honest.  I always come to “Gaudete” Sunday with some hesitation.  That’s because I’ve heard so many sermons preached in a way that tried to make joy into one, big should in my life.  “You should be joyful!”  And if you’re not, there’s something wrong with you spiritually.  But to me, joy can’t be made into that kind of ashould.  You will be joyful! – is too contrived.  It just doesn’t work.

Yet “Gaudete” Sunday does make me think about joy.  It makes me curious about the kind of joy so easily associated with this time of year.  Joy does seem to be the goal of all our eating and drinking – the goal of our music.  Whether we sing “Joy to the World” or “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer” – I do think we want joy to come out of it all.  And of course there’s our gift-giving.  We don’t give gifts to get a groan.  We want smiles.  We want joy all around.  So the season does seem to say to us:  You will be joyful!  Joy is the reason for the season!

But again to be honest, isn’t that a kind of forced joy?  And isn’t it a disappointing joy – when you look from a Christian perspective?  From that perspective what gives us joy comes from someplace else altogether.  I want to tell you a kind of Advent story.  It’s about something that happened here at St. Peter’s this past Monday.

Last Monday we had a teaching Mass for those in RCIA.  We went through the Mass with commentary explaining why we do what we do.  We ended about 8:40pm and I left to go home.  Going out the back door I came upon a homeless woman who was setting herself up in the doorway for the night.  I asked her if she had tried to find a place in the women’s shelter.  She said she had stayed at the women’s shelter.  But she added there are usually a lot of younger women with their children at the shelter.  Since she had a kind of virus that made her cough a lot, she thought it better that she not expose the children to the virus.  Monday night was not too cold but Tuesday was predicted to dip into the 20’s.  So I encouraged her to plan on staying at the shelter the next night.  Then I left.

I kept thinking about that woman and her reason for not staying at the shelter:  to protect the children from her virus.  She was willing to spend the night outside – out of care for the children.  I thought to myself:  what a simply loving thing to do!  There and then I felt myself immersed in the mystery of the Incarnation:  God’s selfless love taking shape in human form.  There and then I felt joy in God’s presence that had come to me through this homeless woman.

That kind of joy comes as a gift – as sheer grace.  There can be no duty attached to it – no forced should – just gratitude – a simple gratitude.  That’s a new kind of joy – a leap of the heart at what God is doing in our very midst.  A new kind of joy – in God who is Immanuel – joy in God who is truly with us.  Oh come, oh come, Immanuel!

Fr. Pat Earl, SJ