By Fr Antony Christy, SDB.
Rejoicing Always – in the Lord, in truth and in good!
Third Sunday in Advent – December 17, 2023
Isaiah 61: 1-2, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5: 16:24; John 1: 6-8,19-20
The last two Sundays of Advent had invited us to expect the Reign and prepare the Reign and today, we have the invitation to Celebrate the Reign! There is a premise to this call – that we are convinced that the Reign is here, or else how can we celebrate it? There are two inherent messages in this call – that the Reign is fundamentally a rejoicing and that it is only in the act and the disposition of rejoicing that the Reign can be made present where intended.
There are enough and more reasons to complain and lament today – would suffice just to look around, at all levels local, national, international, global and the cosmic levels, there are events and facts, happenings and possibilities, news and predictions that can stifle us in our fears and tears. But the people of the Reign cannot let these overpower them. That is the crux of the message to celebrate the Reign here and now. That does not in any way mean an insensitive going about, without minding what makes people suffer, or what sufferings exist around us. So, what do we mean by celebrating the Reign?
Celebrating the Reign: We expect the Reign, we said, not as if something external is going to come into our reality. We prepare the Reign, and not just passively wait for it to appear from somewhere, because the Reign is right amidst us. If we really believe it is amidst us, one of the first response should be to rejoice, to celebrate that Reign. And celebrating that Reign means, of course rejoicing, but rejoicing in the Lord.
Rejoicing in the Lord: The celebration of the Reign is a celebration with a difference. It is not merely rejoicing come what may – that may sound sometimes foolish or inhuman, or even arrogant. It is rejoicing in the Lord, because the Lord is with me, come what may! Mary stands out today as a model presented to us: my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour! All the instances pointed out in that song of praise, that Luke borrows from Hannah’s song and places in the mouth of Mary, are instances of misfortune: lowliness, starving, haughtiness, emptiness… but they become experiences of rejoicing in the Lord because we realise the proximity of God.
Rejoicing in the Lord is a special kind of a disposition of life that is proper to the Reign, which makes it the celebration of the Reign in daily life. The Word today presents to us three specific characteristics of this special call: to rejoice in the Lord.
Rejoicing always: The specific characteristic is to rejoice always – Rejoice in the Lord, Rejoice in the Lord always, emphasises the entrance antiphon to today’s liturgy. The letter of St. Paul in the second reading presents to us terms such as ‘at all times’, ‘constantly’, ‘never’ suppress, etc., all of them pointing to one important fact of rejoicing always. That is because, as we already said, the Lord is present with us always and that is a motive for us and an enough reason for us to rejoice, to rejoice always. If it is truly a rejoicing in the Lord, it will never cease, because the Lord never ceases to be present with us, never ceases to encourage us and never ceases to illumine us to see the reasons to rejoice.
Rejoicing in truth: A second characteristic of rejoicing in the Lord is rejoice in the truth! It is not a rejoicing that is built on some false promise or an exaggerated aspiration. It is based on truth, the truth that the Lord makes us see. We see John the Baptist presented to us in the Gospel, as the personification of this characteristic – a man who stood by the truth. When he was asked who he was, or when he was compared to the great prophet or to the messiah to come, he in a direct and a matter-of-factly sense, said a decisive no and went past it. For him all those compliments and limelight did not matter, because he rejoiced in the truth, he looked up to the true joy, the Lord who is to come after him – whose sandals he believed he was not worthy to untie. A humility that is a reflection of truth, can be an unfailing source for rejoicing in the Lord.
Rejoicing in good: The third characteristic presented to us is to rejoice in the good, in the good of the other, in the for the other – not in wishing one’s own good and all that is good for oneself. Returning to the first reading, we see Isaiah explaining to us the real character of the Reign – the good for the poor, for the broken hearts, for the slaves, for the prisoners, for those who are in need and in affliction. The good here is for the other, not a selfish seeking of what is good and better. True salvation is the rejoicing in the good of all, that is indeed the experience of the Reign, the good of all, the wellbeing of all, the fullness of life of all. The capacity to rejoice in the good that happens to the other, the capacity to make happen good for the other and rejoice in that capacity, is a characteristic mark of a Reign person and a Reign community.
Rejoicing in the Lord would therefore mean combatting three fundamental enemies of the Reign – fear which is against truth, selfishness that is against goodness, and insensitivity that closes our hearts and our minds to the ever-present possibilities to recognise the presence of the Lord. Rejoice, reminds the Word today! Let us learn to Rejoice, grow in our capacity to Rejoice, to Rejoice in the Lord and thus Celebrate the Reign that we are part of!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He has completed his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.