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After hearing Zephaniah commanding us 'Shout for joy! Sing joyfully! Be
glad and exult with all your heart' I thought about asking you the question
'Are you happy?'. If I'd asked the question in Nigeria a couple of weeks
ago, when I gave a homily to 1500 people at the 8.00 Sunday morning Mass
- the response would have been a resounding 'yes': despite their hardships
and difficulties they are a joy-filled people. I can't see many smiles
- maybe we don't think we have much to be happy about. Joy is not something
we find easy to express yet despite this joy permeates today's liturgy:
the readings communicate to us the imperative to be joyful, to take delight
'in the Lord'; the candle on the Advent wreathe has changed from the sombre
purple of supplication to the rather fetching pink of joy, flowers surround
it springing forth from the dark evergreens which encircle it: and if
we'd had one - Fr. Aidan would also have been adorned in a pink chasuble
to match the glow of his cheeks.
But why this joy? Why this feeling of exultation? Is it the Church's response
to Johnny Wilkinson kicking the winning goal in the dying minutes of the
world cup final. Or has Christmas come already? We can be sure of one
thing -Christmas isn't here yet, despite what the shops think: what the
television might be telling us: despite the staff Christmas parties, the
arrival of cards, and the endless sound of Christmas number ones.
The joy today is not a Christmas joy but something different - another
occasion to exult and be happy. The joy we're invited to experience today
is very much an Advent joy - Advent, the season of anticipation, of expectation,
of the coming of the Lord - where we focus on the anticipation of his
first coming (to the womb of the Virgin of Nazareth and his birth in Bethlehem)
and of his second coming, yet to occur, at the final consummation of time,
when he will come in glory attended to by the heavenly host to judge the
living and the dead.
Yet we are asked today to remember with joy another coming of Christ,
a coming on a personal level which should transform our outlook on life.
His coming into our hearts at our baptism which brings with it the gift
of salvation, the gift of eternal life. Zephaniah speaks of that coming
in terms of liberation, a joy which is experienced when a sentence has
been repealed - the real joy of salvation. Paul tells us to be 'happy
in the Lord' - that because our salvation has been won for us, because
we have been redeemed by Christ we should no longer worry, be anxious.
An anxiety that is like The Lord is very near us - we have no need to
be afraid. That coming of Christ into our hearts should transform our
outlook on life - we've backed the winning side. Despite what the world
can throw at us, the troubles, the heartaches we might experience in this
vale of tears, know for certain that God is on our side dancing with shouts
of joy for us - he is within our midst, our strength, our song, our saviour.
Give thanks to him, bless his holy name.
Rejoice in the Lord always - again, I say rejoice.
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