Homily for December 14, 2003
Year C - Cycle II
3rd Sunday of Advent
by Fr. John Carney
Topic:
The 3 Things That We Need to Live a Joyful Life
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First Reading:
Zephaniah 3:14-18
"Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear..."
Second Reading:
Philippians 4:4-7
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
The theme of the Mass today is joy. Joy – it appears twelve times in the first reading; the apostle Paul’s letter is filled with words of joy, and we hear in the Gospel reading to get rid of the anxiety. It’s a message we need to hear, especially at this time just a few days before Christmas. We know this time of year can be a time of anxiety, as all the preparation and the shopping and all the stuff happens. The Church is telling us today to stop that nonsense. Do what you have to do, but remember the reason for the season: We were saved through Jesus Christ. That’s good news, so dismiss all anxiety and gather together to love the Lord.
For many Christians, it is clear that joy is not a part of their religion. As a matter of fact, I think that keeps some people from joining us; they look at our faces and think, “I don’t want to sign up with that crew!” I have told this story, and forgive me for repeating it, but it speaks volumes in my view. I was newly ordained at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish and after a daily Mass, this lady who attended Mass every day, prayed the Rosary five times a day, and was like the most pious person in the parish, came up to me and said, “There is a blasphemous, blasphemous picture in the store room.” I said, “Let’s investigate.” So we went in the storeroom and there was a picture of Jesus laughing. You’ve probably seen this picture of Jesus – you know his head’s back, his mouth’s open, and he’s not smiling – he’s laughing! She said, “That’s blasphemous.” I said, “Why is that blasphemous?” And she said, “Because that’s not Jesus. Jesus didn’t laugh like that.” So I argued with her for a while, but to no avail. She wanted to be miserable and she wanted me to be miserable like she was. How sad is that? But it’s true.
Sometimes we even have “church faces.” We come through the doors and we’re like this. (Makes a grumpy face.) The summer I got here it rained the night before and the morning was a fresh, clear, summer morning. The church was closed and I opened the doors, to get some ventilation in here. Then about a quarter to nine, I came to close the doors and I wanted to check for leaks so I went through the whole church. There were about a hundred of you here and I, of course, passed every person and said, “Good Morning.” About a third looked at me like (makes angry face again). Now I was only here a few weeks when that happened, so it couldn’t be that you hated me then. (Now, I would understand!) I thought, “What’s wrong? Are they as unhappy as they look?”
Joy is something that is inside us. Joy is not pleasure. Those of us who have lived a while knows that suffering is the opposite of pleasure. In fact, joy can and does exist with suffering. The most joyful people I know have suffered greatly and some of the most joyful people I have ever spent time with are within hours or minutes of their death.
Today is the feast day of St. John of the Cross, the great poet and mystic from Spain, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and a disciple of Teresa of Avila. He reformed the male Carmelite movement of that century. He was persecuted for it and was thrown into jail for a long period of time because he was a disruptive influence in the community. He was trying to get them to come back to their Christian and Catholic roots. John said this, “Would that all men might come at last to see that it is impossible to reach the riches and wisdom and joys of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering.” He wasn’t depressed; he just found the joy of Jesus Christ after he struggled and suffered so much. In fact, many joyful people are suspicious of pleasure because they know it is fleeting. It seduces, but it doesn’t last, and in the end it is empty and hollow. Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Everyone got it at Baptism. You got it at baptism. It was given to you as a gift from God. So if you’re not experiencing any joy in your life, don’t ask God what happened to the gift, look for the gift inside you. It’s there somewhere. Henri Nouwen said this about joy, “Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing, nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death – can take that love of God away.” It is the source and knowledge of joy. We’ve got it; it is God’s gift. He wants us to experience it and to live it.
But I think although God’s love is the basis of the joy we experience, I think three other things are needed to really live a joyful life. First is a noble purpose in life. Secondly, we need to learn to be faithful to this moment. Lastly we need to be generous. A noble purpose – you are important. I am important. I am not here as just an observer. God put me here to do something; to play a part. You know this is true because we need to be needed. Don’t we? Some of you after retirement, and this is especially true with men, who, unfortunately we identify ourselves with what we do. That’s where we get our self-esteem, to too great an extent. But all people need to be needed. If you left your family for two months and you came home and they didn’t notice you were back and they didn’t miss you, how would you feel? We need to be needed. It doesn’t matter what job we do. In God’s eyes, there is no difference between a person who is unemployed and handicapped and the director of the Labs, or the Pope. All honest work is noble and it all fits together to makes God’s world work. John Henry Cardinal Newman said, “God has created me to do some definite service. He has committed some work to me, which he has not committed to another. I have a mission. I am a link in a chain that God has connected between persons. If I am in sickness, my sickness will serve him. In perplexity, my perplexity will serve him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow will serve him. God does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about.” A noble purpose in life.
Secondly, we have to be faithful to the present moment. I think this is a problem for most of us. I know I struggle with it most of the time. You can’t let your past drag you down. I see people all this time who are like this (hunched over) and it’s not a physical problem. That’s not a bad day, that’s they’re carrying a ton of memories and oftentimes it has something to do with lack of forgiveness either on their part or on someone else’s. It can never have anything to do about lack of God’s forgiveness. If you are sorry and you confess your sins as it says in the scripture, you are forgiven. You are free. You are beautiful. You’re clean. To carry the burden of guilt after you are forgiven is an insult to God. “Ok, I messed up. You forgive me. You’re not good enough. I am a bigger sinner than you are a God.” That’s what you are doing. I say that to people. “Go out there for your penance, look at that crucifix, and tell Him not good enough for me.” “Oh I couldn’t do that Father.” That’s exactly what you are doing. You are carrying around a ton of guilt. Get rid of it! It’s weighing you down and it’s destroying the people you love. Live the present moment fully. Don’t stifle the spirit God gives you. It is OK to smile! It is not a sin. Go watch some good clean comedy. Don’t watch “Bad Santa”. But go and watch some good clean comedy. Live with joy. The poet Baudelaire said, “Get drunk, on life, on poetry, on love, but live this life with passion.” Live in the present. Don’t let others stifle you. That’s the problem. I’m convinced we examine ourselves too closely. If not ourselves, we examine those we know too closely. It’s called the scientific method, you question everything, and look at every motive. You examine everything. Leave that at the Labs. Don’t bring your microscopes home with you. Your family is not a Petri dish, and neither is this church. There are too many critics in this world. Now I preach this, but I’m not saying I’m living it. We’re too tough on each other, especially in families. I hear it all the time in Confession. You are too tough on each other. Will you please forgive each other and let each other be yourselves? Especially after 30 years of marriage. He’s not going to change now. The die is cast. That man is not going to change, deal with it. Right? Thank you.
I went to seminary with a guy name Larry. If it was raining twenty-dollar bills, Larry complained that they weren’t fifties. I went to school in Oregon in Mount Angel Seminary. It’s a beautiful place, but the winters are very difficult. It is foggy and it doesn’t snow much, but it’s like 40 degrees and rainy. By April, you’re pretty depressed and you want to get off the hill. (That hill, not this one!) This was a beautiful morning, crystal clear and the birds were singing for the first time and it was just beautiful. Someone said, I wonder what old Larry is doing. “How’s it going Larry?” “Those *&$%#%* birds woke me up.” You fill in the blanks.
Don’t be afraid of the future. Anxiety is a killer…it keeps you from living in the present moment and it depletes the energy you need. Now just as I was preparing these comments yesterday, I took a break. I started to think about some things and I got mad. I muttered to myself. Do you ever do that? I caught myself and said, “What are you doing? You don’t even know what is going to happen and you have no control over it anyway.” This is the moment to live. Don’t invent scenarios with pain; they’ll come. At least enjoy this moment. Matthew 6 says, “Do not worry about your life.” This is Jesus Christ speaking. “Do not worry about your life. Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? Do not worry about tomorrow.” Jesus Christ our Lord said that. St. Francis de Sales said this, “Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either he will shield you from suffering, or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then. Put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.”
Finally, we need to be faithful to this present moment, be noble, and we need to be generous. That is just, I’m convinced, you‘ve all met people who are cheap. Have you ever met a cheap person who is a joyful person? You can’t imagine it. Scrooge, right, is the great story. A Christmas Carol, Dickens’ classic. There are two Scrooges, in the beginning and in the end. Bah Humbug. He’s cheap, he’s miserable, he’s angry. In the end Scrooge is converted with visions of the future. He is happy, joyful, and generous. Be generous. As a matter of fact, be foolish with your generosity. Be like a grandparent. Spoil each other. “Honey, we can’t afford that.” So what! God is foolish with his generosity, isn’t he? Look what he gave us. Look at this earth. Look at the love that we experience. That is incredibly generous. He is careless with His grace. He just throws it all over the place. Be generous. If you’re not, then get that way. If you are, be more generous. Love each other.
We are made in God’s image and God is joyful. What does that mean though, we are made in God’s image. Does God think like us? It’s kind of funny you know. God doesn’t think; neither do some of us, but in a different way. God doesn’t think. God doesn’t have a mind. You know God laughs and God cries like us. We’re made in God’s image in our hearts, not our heads. Don’t let that lead you around. Use it and use it well, form your conscience and live according to it. Live according to that because that’s where God lives, in your heart. Scriptures tell us we don’t even know how to pray as we are. The Holy Spirit expresses himself within us with pride and supplication to the Lord.
Some of you are aware that Jimmy Valvano, the great coach of NC State that won the NCAA College Basketball Tournament in 1983, died of cancer. In the six months or so that he lived with cancer, he became an evangelist of joy. They were the happiest days of his life and he spread the message of God’s love. It was Tuesday that the Jimmy V Tournament was on, and I was watching ESPN, when in one of his last speeches he said, “Live each day to the fullest. Think every day. More importantly, laugh every day. I think that if you can bring yourself to enough feeling that you cry every day and then you’ll have a full day and a full life.” Blessed Julian of Norwich, a mystic, an English mystic, said this and I’m going to say it twice because I think it captures what I’ve been trying to say. “The greatest honor you can give almighty God is to live gladly, joyfully, because of the knowledge of God’s love for you.” You make God happy when you are joyful. He takes pleasure in you. He loves you.
“The greatest honor you can give almighty God is to live gladly, joyfully, because of the knowledge of God’s love for you.”