Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

JOYFULNESS

            The “spiritual master” Eckhart Tolle once said “pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.” Before I share with you “the joy that rises from within”, let us briefly look at the special day we are celebrating. Today, the Third Sunday of Advent, is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday, or the “Sunday for rejoicing”, as you might translate it. It’s the Sunday when Church’s liturgy highlights the mood of hope and expectation that Advent evokes, in anticipation of Christmas. For where there is hope, there is at least the makings of joy.

            We have come a long way this year and few people may have had any idea of what 2020 held for us on 1 January 2020. No matter what had happened and is happening, we are here on Gaudete Sunday; and on Gaudete Sunday we anticipate God not with fear and trembling but with rejoicing.

            On this day of great rejoicing “Gaudete Sunday” I would like to reflect with you what makes people joyous and happy. At times for some people, they situate their moments of blissfulness from pleasure which according to Eckhart Tolle is always derived from something outside an individual. Theologically when we talk of something outside a person, some theologians say, those things are not part of the person’s ontology (one’s beingness). I would like to cite few examples of this. Some people derive great pleasure in their “financial” wealth, social status, erotic moments, praises of men, etc. To these people all they seek for in life to make them joyous are these things and they will do everything to acquire them and at times destroy people who stand in their way. Humanly speaking, they see wealth, social status, erotic entertainment, etc. as the path to happiness. These people have every right to seek these “joyous moments” but Gaudete Sunday is not for these.

            Gaudete Sunday highlights joyous moments that arise from within. God works from within us, just as an organism heals from the inside out. Since God has implanted his Holy Spirit in our hearts, his Spirit can transform us from the inside: “as the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth springs up.” The God who created us is not distant or estranged from our innermost person, rather, he holds the key to our most hidden depths; only later do we perhaps notice that he has been at work in us for some time.

            We are encouraged to note that growth comes from within and it is within this context that the second reading states that because we belong to Christ, joy should outweigh everything else in us: because we cannot heal and construct ourselves, we have to pray and thank and make room for the Spirit at work in us. To this end we dare not despise the guidance that comes from God. John the Baptist in today Gospel was caught up in a similar mood when he came out to witness the advent of the Messiah. John’s happiness did not emanate from something outside himself but from something that God had planted in him. He spoke from within when he testified.

            I am in no way trying to suggest that people should develop hatred for some “earthly pleasurable” things but what I seek to stress is that earthly pleasurable things are not the source of authentic happiness. Please do not work for things that promise transient moments of happiness but rather welcome Christ in your life, for he is the author of true, authentic and eternal happiness.

            As Christmas get closer, we feel our approaching moments of happiness. An average African kid knows that Christmas will make mummy and daddy buy him/her a new dress, shoes, and other goodies. In those days as kids we knew that on Christmas Day we would eat chicken and rice and the thought of the meal of day made us to look forward joyfully for Christmas Day. As we dream for a day like this that bring happiness, let us make efforts to work on divine happiness. Christmas without Christ is not Christmas. Allow Christ in your life and this Christmas will be super!!!