“Be always joyful in the Lord; I repeat, be always joyful.” The Lord is near. With these words began today’s second reading, and that phrase was the entrance antiphon of the Mass. Today is the third Sunday of Advent. On this Sunday, the Church always invites us to joy. But not just any joy, but joy in the Lord.
Because there is a joy that is distraction and amusement; it is a joy that, instead of taking us to our innermost depths, disperses us among things that are seen, touched, heard and felt, until we forget ourselves. There is another joy that is pure bodily emotion; to that joy was invited by that worldly song that said: “Give joy to your body”. There is also the illusory joy of those who pretend to overcome sorrows by forgetting them in drink and drugs. None of these worldly joys is joy in the Lord.
The motive for joy in the Lord does not distract us, but concentrates us; it does not amuse us, but converts us; it does not entertain us, but contains us. That joy arises from the awareness and knowledge that the Lord is near.
Today’s first reading also invited us to rejoice: “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout for joy, O Israel; rejoice and be glad with all your heart, O Jerusalem. The Lord will be the king of Israel in your midst, and you will fear no evil.”
Joy, rejoicing, gladness and happiness are God’s promise to us. But what is Christian joy, joy in the Lord? It is the joy that arises within us when we know that we are of value to God, when we know that we are saved. When death ceases to be a threat of annihilation and destruction and becomes the door to the fullness of life, then we are joyful. When our wrong and irresponsible decisions, when our frivolous or evil actions have been forgiven by God and the past ceases to be a burden that devours our future, then we feel inner joy and are at peace with ourselves and with God.
When we know that our fragility is sustained by God’s strength and that our transience is supported by God’s eternity, our life is filled with light and we feel content.
The joy of God can live with sickness and bodily suffering, because it is stronger than pain. God’s joy can sustain us in tribulation and adversity, because we know that God will not fail us. The Lord is near.
How close is God?
The nearness of God can be understood in several ways. In temporal terms, the nearness of the Lord means that his future coming is about to take place: God is at the doors. But this is the most difficult closeness to grasp and experience. God is near in many other ways.
He is near in his Word, which rebukes and corrects us, which counsels and encourages us, which teaches and guides us, which enlightens us and fills us with joy. When we hear a Gospel passage that comforts us or dispels our doubts, God is near. When, in prayer, we raise our thoughts to God and our breast is filled with his presence, God is near.
When we receive forgiveness in confession and feel peace of heart, God is near. When we commune the holy host, which is the Body of Christ, and God dwells in us, He is near. When hope leads us to trust in God for the future, then He is near.
When faith gives meaning to our lives, the Lord is near. When the love of God envelops us and moves us to do good to our neighbor, the Lord is near.
And when God is near in any of these ways, we experience, as if in advance and fleetingly, a little bit of the heaven and eternity we hope to attain in fullness at the end of our days.
Then we understand the two recommendations of God’s Word today: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Then we can say with the psalmist: “The Lord is my God and my savior. With him I am safe, and fear nothing. The Lord is my protection and my strength, and he has been my salvation.”
The joy of the Lord makes it easier for us to lead a morally upright life. The joy of God in the heart facilitates the fulfillment of the commandments. When the joy of God is in our mind and heart, we too ask, as did the people who came to John the Baptist, “What should we do?”
To each one who asked him, John gave a specific answer. To the common people he encouraged charity: “Whoever has two coats, let him give one to the one who has none, and whoever has food, let him do the same”. To the publicans, notorious for overcharging and asking for bribes, he said: “Do not charge more than the established amount”. And to some soldiers, inclined to abuse their power, he instructed: “Do not extort money from anyone or make false accusations; be content with your wages.
Let us also ask John the Baptist: “What should we do?” And, in our conscience, he will speak to us, if we allow the light of God’s truth to illuminate our inner self. We will know what we must correct, where we must improve and how we must act.
Let us allow ourselves to be judged by Jesus Christ now, while there is still time to make amends, and not wait for the final judgment, when there will no longer be time for conversion. Let us allow the light of God’s truth to illumine our interior now, so that, persevering in doing good, we may stand with confidence and joy before the final judgment.
He has the pitchfork in his hand to separate the wheat from the chaff; he will keep the wheat in his barn and burn the chaff in the fire that will not be extinguished, the fire of the final failure of our lives.
Courage! The Lord is near, not to condemn, but to save. Let us now take advantage of his outstretched hand for salvation. If we do not grasp this hand, we will fall into the abyss. Let us allow God to look at us with his penetrating gaze, which uncovers our innermost being now, to prevent our failure from being revealed in the end.
Let us live in such a way that we can say: “The Lord is my protection and my strength, and he has been my salvation”.