December 14, 2003

True joy is “a fruit of the Holy Spirit” (Gal. 5:22). Attempts at joy without the help of the Holy Spirit eventually degrades man. These are what St. Paul calls the works of the flesh: “immorality, impurity, licentiousness . . . drinking bouts, orgies and the like” (Gal. 5:19, 21). He goes into even greater detail in describing gossamer pleasures to the people of Corinth, a city that makes ours look like a child’s tea party. Other false joys produce what St. Paul calls a “darkened mind”: immoderate use of wealth, luxury, and ambition for power (cf. Eph. 4:18-19). They are a devil’s prescription for depression.

The Third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday” from the liturgical antiphon for Second Vespers: “Gaudete in Domino semper” (always rejoice in the Lord); and the antiphon of First Vespers: “Jerusalem, gaude gaudio magno” (Jerusalem, rejoice with great joy), summed up in the hymns of the Mass itself. Rose replaces the solemn purple color at the altar on this day. The true joy of Christmas requires Advent contemplation of the deep mysteries of Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Christ our Joy explains these. To hide from them is to enter the bizarre world of unreality and to fall flat on one’s face in times of crisis. St. Thomas Aquinas says, “Sadness, as an evil or vice, is caused by a disordered love for oneself, which . . . is the general root of all vices” (Summa Theol., II-II, q. 28, a. 4, ad. 1). Our Lady took the opposite course when she entered the joy of the Lord by allowing the Lord to enter her, and that is what we do when we go to Confession and Communion. So she sings, “My spirit rejoices in God my saviour” (Luke 1:47). This fulfills the prophecy of Habakkuk (3:18): “Yet will I rejoice in the Lord and exult in my saving God.”

At a General Audience in 1991, Pope John Paul II reminded the Church how Jesus predicted that trials would come, but that joy would overcome them. The apostles who received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost were put on trial and then flogged, warned, and sent home. They went “rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name [of Jesus]. And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus” (Acts 5: 41-42).

Do not fall into the nervous and evasive habit of wishing people “Happy Holidays” instead of “Happy Christmas.” That reduces the joy of “Gaudete” to a less worthy gaudiness. Bing Crosby songs are nice this time of year and so is Santa at Macy’s and the candy canes in shop windows. But true joy comes from friendship with Christ who has given us his Holy Spirit. Christmas is Christ’s Mass.

Fr. George W. Rutler