Joy is Yours to Have (John 1: 6-8, 19-28)

The lighting of the rose-colored candle, the wearing of rose-colored vestments all signify our Church is called to rejoice this Third Sunday of Advent, for the Lord is near indeed. 

What causes you to be rejoice and experience joy? Another word we can use is the word delight. What delights you?

 As we begin to ponder that question a bit, maybe our minds go to some earthly pleasures that we enjoy: that particular cup of coffee, a bowl of our favorite flavor of ice cream, maybe achieving or finding something else.

For many folks, joy or delight is found in material things. But if we put our eggs all in that basket, we begin to realize that we can never really satiate our heart's desire with things. They provide us fleeting moments of pleasure, and then quickly disappear.

We then find ourselves searching for something else, something else that we think we may want or desire, in pursuit of joy. It is no wonder, then, that lines in front of Lotto machines are often quite large when the pot is big. The illusion that the more I have, the happier I will be, the more joy I possess, is something that drives many human beings.

But it is simply that: an illusion.

We begin to get glimpses that there is more; that the material is not all that really matters; that there's a depth of spirit to pursue. A depth of spirit that provides the joy that we all desperately seek and desire. It is that joy of eternal salvation that the Church directs us to today, that this season of Advent beckons us to listen to, and to be drawn int it is the truth of who we are: the powerful and wonderful presence of God that has visited God's people. Who directs us. And orients us in terms of our souls. Who shows us that we journey not alone, but with this Creator who supports us, sustains us and keeps us and loves us. 

When a person stumbles upon this reality, it takes root in their very soul and it affects how they present themselves to life.

Because we begin to realize that my interior journey, my interior self, is what is brought to whatever is happening around me. It is brought to the challenges.  It's brought to the successes. It isn't the particulars that direct the inner self, but what I discover and find within, that colors, my experiences of life.

That's why St. Therese of Lisieux was so adamant about joy being in the recesses of one's soul. And she said, it didn't matter whether you were in a palace or in a prison, joy is still yours to have.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta says that a person who exudes joy affects others, such that you leave that person feeling better about who you are; that there's a genuine goodness that radiates from their face is found on their smile, illuminates their eyes. You can tell immediately that the person of joy is just in a better, more centered place, and that joy is then infectious, spilling over to others and touching others' hearts and lives. 

And so today the church calls us to sift through where we look for joy and delight in our lives. What directs us? What strengthens us? What focuses us?  So that no matter whether we are in the spirit of life, facing the challenges of illness or death, finding ourselves with much or with little that we present ourselves to all things with this confident, joyful spirit of mind, heart and soul. With the certain knowledge that we are on a much greater journey, and ultimately our delight in our happiness can only be fulfilled when we meet face-to-face our Creator and our Redeemer. 

It is that salvation that truly orients us and directs us, and it is that to which we are called to cling.