“When There Remains Nothing to be Desired”
Today, once again in the midst of the Advent season we have come to Gaudete Sunday.
Those of us who have been around the block a few times are aware that Gaudete is a
Latin verb that means ‘to rejoice’. Although much of the penitential quality of the
Advent season has been eclipsed by the commercialization of Christmas, the Church
consistently leads us to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ – at His birth in
Bethlehem and at His Second Coming in glory at the end of time. But today, in the midst
of our penitential Advent season we take pause to rejoice in hope, as we light the rose
candle and clergy don rose vestments.
Many of you know Fr. Satheesh Alphonse, former Pastor of Our Lady of Fatima parish
and current CEO of the St. Louis Center in Chelsea. Whenever I see him I like to ask,
“How are you?” And without fail, every time he replies, “JOYFUL!” And he truly is!
In today’s 2nd reading St Paul urges us to “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again:
rejoice!” But what is this joy? Is it just being happy all the time? And are happiness and
joy the same thing? Although the terms are synonymous, generally speaking happiness
is associated with good fortune, favorable occurrences and prosperity – and it is also
experienced in reaction to pleasure. Ah, savoring fresh cherry pie a la mode, hitting a
hole-in-one, or reading a good book. So, who doesn’t want to be happy? But happiness
can quickly evaporate if circumstances change and good fortune ceases.
What then is joy, and how does it differ? Joy has been defined as, “an intense and
especially ecstatic or exultant happiness”. Thus, joy is a deeper kind of happiness,
firmly fixed and rooted in one’s life. The object of joy goes beyond the various
circumstantial aspects of happiness, and true joy is less likely to buckle in the absence of
pleasures and good fortune.
So, how do we enter into this joy? Jesus shows us the way: “If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy
may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
St Thomas Aquinas echoes this when he says, “Spiritual joy, which is about God, is
caused by charity…and joy is full when there remains nothing to be desired.”
When we come to the end of our pilgrimage, what words could possible ring sweeter in
our ears than, “Enter into the joy of your master.”? If now, without having seen Him we
“rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy,” as the Apostle Peter wrote, then, in
beholding Him face to face there will remain nothing more that could possibly be
desired.
Advent blessings,
+Deacon Dave