“I rejoice heartily in the Lord,” the prophet says in the first reading. And, why wouldn’t he?? He has glad tidings. His message is one of hope and joy. The poor will be taken care of, the brokenhearted will be healed, the captives will be freed, and the prisoners will be released. Who wouldn’t rejoice in these things?
We hear these beautiful words everywhere this time of year. But there is a disconnect! For many, for too many people, this is time of depression, not of joy. And why?, because the poor are still poor, and getting poorer; people are brokenhearted, just look at the faces of the homeless and marginalized in our community; captives and prisoners are not released, but being isolated like animals.
The bank forecloses on the house of a person who lost his job; a spouse succumbs to alcoholism; bright, well intentioned students are murdered while on campus; civil disobedience becomes violence begetting violence. What has happened to the promise of those beautiful words? How is joy possible?
This is a very important question and I believe each of us is here today to find an answer to that very essential question in our lives—how is joy possible?
Part of the answer comes from today’s Responsorial. Usually the Responsorial Psalm comes from the psalms. But not today—the Responsorial is from Luke’s Gospel. It is Mary’s words in the Magnificat, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
Reflect on this for a moment!—Does anyone think she took those words back when she stood at the cross as her son was crucified…as she witnessed his terrible death? How can she live those words at the foot of the Cross? She can because the infinite love of God was there with her. The words of joy Mary spoke before Jesus was born are only more true in the suffering she bears at his cross. God’s love does not take away her suffering at the crucifixion. How could it? But her suffering is enveloped in God’s great love, and so it is transfigured.
This notion of suffering being enveloped by God’s love may be difficult for us to fully appreciate, but I can tell from my personal experience of the death of our young daughter that is exactly what happened—the suffering was there, still is in some ways, but it is embraced always by God’s great love expressed most vividly by the love we received from others—a love that eclipses all suffering..
In his apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel” Pope Francis says “Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and follow him is not only something right and true, but also beautiful, capable of filling life with new splendor and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties” So, part of the answer to “How is joy possible?” is God’s unconditional great love for each of us. Another part of the answer is “hope”
Herni Nouwen, a Dutch-born priest who spent his life reflecting, teaching and writing on a spirituality around suffering, was once asked: “Are you an optimist?” His reply: “No, not naturally, but that isn’t important. I live in hope, not optimism.”.
Hope is a vision of life that guides us by God’s promise of salvation, irrespective of whether the situation looks optimistic or pessimistic. Hope is not simple optimism. Hope is not based on whether the evening news is good or bad on a given day. Instead, hope looks at the facts, looks at God’s promise, and then, without denying the facts or turning away from the evening news, lives out a vision of life, trusting that a benevolent, all-powerful God is still in charge of this world and that this is more important than all those things we may be experiencing—the promise that God is still alive, still Lord of this world and because of that “ all will be well, and every manner of beings will be well,”
So, how is joy possible? With God’s unconditional love for us and in the hope in God’s promise of salvation? There is another aspect to experiencing joy found in our readings today.
In the first reading, Isaiah speaks of “sent to bring glad tidings,” “to proclaim,” “to announce.” In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he writes about praying without ceasing, about not quenching the Spirit, about becoming perfectly holy. ” All this is leading to the Gospel reading, “A man named John was sent from God…”
It might be helpful for us to re-read those opening verses from today’s Gospel and replace the name of John with our own name. (read from Gospel) What it says should be just as true of every baptized person as it was of John. For each one of us has been sent to give witness to the Light. The Sermon on the Mount speaks of us as “the light of the world.”
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas and the coming of God into our lives through Jesus, we need mindful that we have been called to bring Jesus into other people’s lives—to bring the joy, we hope to embrace, to others. How is joy possible? It is when we share it with others and by doing that, we find immense joy in our hearts.
So many people out there are waiting. Waiting for us to shine the light of Christ on them and to turn their lives into experiences of joy, of wholeness and integrity.
The joy of Jesus, the joy of Christmas can only be ours to the extent that we work with Jesus to bring that joy into the lives of others.
Is joy possible? OH , YES !!!!!
-with God’s great love that eclipses all suffering
-with hope in salvation
-by bringing the joy of Christmas to others.
Then each of us and our community of faith can say
“ I rejoice heartily in the Lord”