Rejoice in the Lord always
Today's liturgy opens with the words of St. Paul: Gaudete in Domino semper; iterum dico: Gaudete! - “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (cf. Phil 4:4). Hence the ancient name of the 3rd Sunday of Advent: Gaudete Sunday, or "Rejoice" Sunday.
Christians are mainly accused of killing people's joy with burdensome morality, ecclesiastical boredom and false hope. Christianity is sad - proclaim the Roman emperors and Turkish sultans, Voltaire and Nietzsche, Hitler and Stalin and their late grandchildren; many of them want to restore the world to a natural joy by cleansing it from “sad people”.
Here are pink chasubles, laughter, joy, sweet yoke, light burden. The Lord says: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (cf. Jn 15:11) Despite the attacks of the Nietzscheanists, past and present. How is it? What's the truth? Where is joy, where is sadness?
Christianity begins with the word "rejoice" that Gabriel addresses to Mary at the Annunciation. At the birth of Jesus, there is already talk of "great joy", announced by the angel to the shepherds. And to this faith in Christ leads - to great joy for God, which the world did not know and was not aware before and outside Christianity. Awakening the joy of God is a primary task of the Church. Evangelization is just that: learning this joy, releasing it, proclaiming it, bearing witness to it. "Joy in the Lord is your refuge" - this is how Nehemiah explains to the troubled people the relationship between joy, faith and vitality. Thanks to the joy of God, you will "survive", that is: you will stand, you will not lie down, nothing will overturn you, you will not fall, you will remain upright, you will live. You're not going to die.
For joy is a matter deeply connected with death. For what is actually the fundamental argument of the Christian faith for joy? Why does man have the right to joy, why should the decisive word not belong to sadness and despair, despite the irrefutable facts and inevitable processes (passing away, end of everything, death)? The source of joy in our world comes from on high, from Mount Golgotha. Joy flows - this is one of the deepest paradoxes of love / Christianity - from the very heart of Christ's passion. Jesus' death makes our existence not the way to death, it is not a moment that is short, wasted and will turn into nothing. And only then lasting joy is possible, when it is not death and nothingness that will turn out to be the final end.
The death of Christ is therefore the center of true joy, and his resurrection assures us that he not only "became", but eternally "is" man, that humanity has been permanently introduced into the essence of God himself. And then - if this is the case - man ceases to be absurd and hopeless. "Flesh and blood" then have their inviolable place in God, and the reason for joy - their indestructible basis, because of it Easter. Hope wins over despair. It is also guaranteed by the Holy Spirit (the Comforter!) And the Eucharist, which is an encounter with love stronger than death.
Because life is about love, it is clear to everyone. Nothing less than infinite love will please us. Man will not be reconciled with death or the lack of love. Because it is from God who is life itself and boundless love. All religions and all art are saying about this disagreement. And without this certainty - that it is not death but only love - all the joys of the world are only the sad whims of the clown. Where there is the realm of death, celebration and joy are not possible. The right to joy is possible only when life is able to face death. Christ gives this right. On the altar happens what love dreams of: in death, the door to life opens, love becomes eternal, gaining a reason and the right to undisturbed joy. Old Testament: Love is Powerful as Death. New Testament: Love is more powerful than death. Hence "full joy".
The world of liberalism, "so call the best of regimes," aspiring to become the obligatory way of life today, - following the example of its close relative, Marxism - has not so much to offer neither loving nor mortal. Beyond consumption and the mirage of freedom. Joseph Ratzinger said: “There is a tacit agreement between liberalism and Marxism on important points: interpreting the world solely from the perspective of materialism. Therefore, liberalism cannot overcome Marxism. " That's why there is so much sadness under his dreadlocks and a thin layer of icing / glitter, therefore depression, drugs and rage. And the cult of despair. We need the freedom of truth; we need an image of a man dealing with God. Otherwise, we will not find a way between the Scylla of anarchy and the Charybdis of totalitarianism. No joy..." (Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology, which has been associated with the proverbial advice "to choose the lesser of two evils").
We just need Christ. Gaudete! Who follow Him.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george