The joy in Advent
Even if the season of Advent is in general marked by aspirit of sacrifice as preparation for the coming of Christ, it also should be characterized by joy. Precisely, on the Third Sunday of Advent, this sentiment is highlighted.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near." That's how the Mass on that Sunday begins. Joy is what we all actually long and yearn for. We want to be happy. Glee and bliss are the unspoken ultimate goal we want to attain. But how should we do it? That's the problem.
Especially now when we are bombarded with all sorts of trials, challenges, pressures, we end up harassed, losing joy and peace easily and for extended periods, reacting to things with tension and irritation, and often plunging into despair and depression.
In reaction to this predicament, many people resort to deceptive quick-fixes and other forms of escapism-alcohol, drugs, sex, isolation or wild lifestyle-not knowing they are just poising themselves for an uglier crash.
We need to clarify some basic issues here, since we seem to be in the middle of a thickening confusion and drifting to a kind of hell on earth. Mental cases are piling up, some studies report,indicating many people do not anymore know how to cope with their situation.
We have to learn how to find joy then, its true source, the one that can be attained and felt whatever setting we may find ourselves in. Joy should not be based only on some shallow and shifty ground, like our physical, emotional or social conditions. They are very unreliable foundations, and can be very dangerous.
Joy and happiness can only be found in God. That's for sure. He is the source of all good things, the creator and foundation of all reality. And when we mess up things that obviously will lead us to trouble and sadness, he it is who will fix things, heal what is sick, repair what is damaged, recover what is lost.
This is a truth that needs to be emphasized again. Many have forgotten it, or worse, are ignorant of it. Especially the young who obviously need to be properly taught things, they easily fall into a very restricted and distorted understanding of joy, associating it with some bodily pleasures, emotional highs, or favorable social standing.
Many others have sourced it on the possession of good health, wealth, fame, worldly power. This conception of joy is notoriously biased and one-sided. It cannot stand the test of time with all its varied situations. It prospers only during fair weather, not in bad.
We need to shout to the four winds that joy can only come from God, from loving him, following his will and commandments, and entering into such an ever-growing intimate relationship with him that we could clearly and promptly see his abiding interventions in our life.
This is a truth that has to be released from our man-made prison of ignorance, biases and malice. We need to break down the modern walls of secularism, materialism and relativism that detach us from God and have simply hardened our self-centeredness.
The joy that is rooted on our faith in God springs from our conviction that God is our Creator and Father, the source of all good things, including the essential mercy that we all need since we cannot help but fall into sin and some trouble.
God never fails us. And nothing is impossible with him. Besides, even in our wretched condition as sinners, God continues to love us not only sentimentally, but also most thoroughly by assuming our own sinfulness without committing sin, and converting our wounded condition into a means for our perfection and salvation.
We need to go to God to find joy. As a psalm says it very well, "To be near God is my happiness." (72) We have to strengthen this conviction. Those without God will surely perish and get destroyed sooner or later. That much the same psalm warns us.
And God is neither far nor hidden nor ignorant. That sensation that we can sometimes have toward God is at best apparent. It's false and without basis, since God is at the very core of our life. And if we have faith we can actually see him everywhere. And we know he is a father who always cares for us.
We just have to level up with the reality that governs us, a reality that is not ruled only by physical laws but also and most especially by spiritual, moral and supernatural laws, that is to say, by faith, hope and charity.
- Latest
