Where do we find joy? Today, after all, on this Sunday of Joy, we should reflect upon the sources of joy. Joy is not the same as happiness; joy is not the same as pleasure; joy is not the same as a sense of well-being, or satisfaction. Joy cannot be bought or manufactured. Joy comes from the Holy Spirit, and is deeply connected with a sense of dependence. The Catechism teaches us, “[God] not only gives [creatures] being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act, and brings them to their final end. Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence” (CCC 301). In other words, we are to find joy in our complete dependence on God the Creator, the Father of Jesus, who is also our Father, through the Holy Spirit. Our joy comes through our acknowledgement that we are helpless, and that we rely on God for every second of our lives. To paraphrase the words of the Prophet Isaiah from the first reading, we are the oppressed, the broken-hearted, the prisoners, those who need liberty. If we look around us today, how much helplessness, how much hopelessness, how many people with broken hearts, people in need of joy.
The culture that surrounds us does not like the sense of dependence. In fact, our culture says to us, you are in control. You are free to determine yourself as you are, you are self-made. Our culture even offers us the illusion of being able to go beyond being created male and female, and change one’s gender. In the language of the world, you are entitled to reach your fullest potential, according to your own rules. In contrast, for us Christians, Advent is a time when we recall and remember how dependent we are on God, and how reach our fullest potential only through Him. We need God to remake us, to re-create us again. In Advent, we recall in faith God’s coming to bring us out of the illusion of our self-sufficiency. As the Catechism says, recognizing how utterly dependent we are on God brings us wisdom, freedom, confidence, and joy.
In the Gospel, St. John the Baptist says that the is the voice of one crying out in the desert. As Origen, one of the Fathers of the Church, teaches us, “There is need of the voice crying out in the wilderness, that the soul, forsaken by God, may be recalled to making straight the way of the Lord, following no more the crooked paths of the serpent” (Catena aurea, 2014, vol. 4, pg. 42). Advent is a time of straightening-out that which is crooked.
Today, we have started the second part of Advent, the part which prepares us for Christmas. In the sanctuary, the walls of the creche are already up, the trees surround the stable, the Christmas star awaits its lighting. Let this be a visual reminder of whom we await. As much as we await the time of rest around the holidays, as much as we await meetings with family and friends, as much as we look forward to presents or gifts, we await the Messiah. We are those helpless children, frequently brokenhearted, often with broken spirits, that wait for the coming of a Saviour. Let us recognize our complete dependence on the Father, because that will bring us joy.
Mary, the Mother of God, is the cause of our joy, as mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. In the words of St. John Paul II, “Our Lady's motherly smile…expresses a fullness of grace and peace that seeks to be shared. This expression of her serenity of spirit effectively contributes to giving the Church a joyful face. Invoking her…the Christian people find in her the capacity to communicate the joy that is born of hope, even in the midst of life's trials, and to guide those who commend themselves to her to the joy that knows no end” (https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/mary-is-model-of-persevering-silence-8080).
So, joy is not something that we can manufacture or purchase. Joy comes from a deep sense of being dependent upon God, our loving Father. We find in the Blessed Virgin Mary an example of joy, and through her, we increase our own capacity to communicate joy, to radiate joy. Mary, cause of our joy, pray for us.
(Fr. Paweł Ratajczak, OMI, Dec. 17, 2023)