The Joy of the Gospel (Gaudete Sunday A)

One day, I was home for a short break, my 5-year old nephew seemed to be restless moving around the house. Finally, he mustered his courage to approach me and whispered something to me. “What did you say?” I clarified. He said a bit louder, “tablet.” He was asking for a gift, and he wanted to have a Samsung tablet for him to play with! OMG! I explained to him that it was quite expensive, that I did not even have one for myself, and that I didn’t think he was ready for it. He seemed to have understood me and did not bother me anymore about it.

The following day my mother approached me and asked me, “what’s a tablet?” Apparently, my nephew had asked her too for the same gift and my mother, without thinking twice, said yes! So, the kid had been jumping for joy until he realized that my mother was taking him to Mercury Drug to grant his wish.

Are you one of those who seek joy in the thousand forms of pleasures offered by today’s technological smart gadgets? Here’s a better way of having joy in life: The joy of the gospel.

Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, invites us to rejoice and to experience what truly gives joy from within. Our liturgy bids us rejoice not because of any sophisticated gift that we received but because of the gift of the salvation that has come through and in Jesus Christ. The readings today remind us of the fulfillment of the prophetic promise of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ and the joy that accompanies this fulfillment.

The first reading for instance (Is 35:1-6a, 10), speaks of the salvation, comfort and healing that is promised to take place in the messianic era accompanied by everlasting joy for those who are ransomed:

“Be strong, fear not! Here is your God; he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy” (v. 4-6, 10).

Moreover, the gospel reading (Mt 11:2-11) affirms the advent of the promised Messianic era in Jesus Christ.  Asked by John’s emissaries of his identity, i.e. whether or not he is the Messiah, Jesus in affirmation pointed them to the very signs which the Prophet Isaiah spoke of:

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (v. 5).

Clearly then our readings illustrate to us the fulfillment of the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the Good News. This is what brings joy to everyone.  This is the joy of the Gospel which Pope Francis speaks of in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. Inspired by this exhortation, allow me to offer three ways of experiencing true joy which our smart gadgets cannot give:

The joy of being loved and forgiven.  Experience will tell us that ultimately there is no joy in the path of consumerism. Pope Francis affirms this in his apostolic exhortation when he recognizes as a great danger in today’s world “the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.”  In such desolation, God is no longer heard, “the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt and the desire to do good fades” (EG, 2).

What brings back the joy is a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ.  In Jesus we experience the infinite love and mercy of God.  Even if we have shunned God’s love over and over again, the Lord awaits our return to him. He is never tired of forgiving us; His boundless and unfailing love restores our joy and makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew (EG, 3). Let us then hear God’s invitation and allow him to love us and to embrace us back in his mercy.

The joy of sharing the gospel.  This renewed encounter with God’s love liberates us from our narrowness and self-absorption. It propels us to offer our lives in the task of evangelization.  As Pope Francis explains, “For if we have received the love which restores meaning to our lives, how can we fail to share that love with others?” (EG, 8).

This is the joy of the mission to evangelize or to proclaim the good news of God’s love and mercy. And the Pope wishes that “the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope,l be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ” (EG, 10).

The joy of remembering. The joy of evangelizing always arises from grateful remembrance. The believer is essentially “one who remembers”. Hence, this invitation for the new zeal for evangelization does not mean forgetting our living history but returning to the source in order to recover the original freshness of the Gospel and to express it with more eloquent words with new meaning for today’s world (EG, 11).

Memory is an essential dimension of our faith.  Our celebration of the Eucharist is “the Church’s daily remembrance of, and deeper sharing in, the event of Jesus’ Passover” (EG, 13).  As we approach Christmas, let us bring our families together to experience the joy of remembering our Lord as we celebrate joyfully our Christmas liturgy.

Have you found joy in life? The search has probably been long and even frustrating especially if you have been religiously listening to advertisements. This consumerist formula for joy is not working. It brings all of us down including our dying planet. Gaudete Sunday, on the other hand, bids us to be joyful because of the good news of salvation in Christ. Let us embrace the Gospel and the joy that comes with it. And life will be different.