Today the Church sets aside the violet of Advent’s expectation in favor of the color rose and points us to joy of the Christmas feast that draws ever closer. Today is often called “Gaudete” or “Rejoice” Sunday, a title taken from the entrance antiphon and epistle of the Mass where St. Paul urges us to “Rejoice always in the Lord”—Gaudete in Domino!
Considering the relentless pandemic, we might ask St. Paul, “How is rejoicing always possible? COVID-19 has certainly impacted every aspect of our lives and made this an anxious and fear-filled time. Restrictions and protocols, however necessary, are disconcerting and annoying. A recent Facebook post declared—"the most useless purchase of 2019…a day planner for 2020.”
The most troubling aspect of our time has been those who suffer and have succumbed to COVID. So, is Christmas joy feasible in 2020? Isn’t St. Paul rather naïve when he tells us to rejoice always?
Not really. We have to make an important distinction. St. Paul does not say, “Be happy always.” He says rejoice in the Lord always. Happiness is not the same as joy. Even though we think of joy and happiness as synonyms and use them interchangeably, from a biblical and spiritual perspective they are different.
Joy is permanent while the happiness is fleeting. Joy is from God while happiness is based on a given set of circumstances. Happiness can come and go but Christian joy remains. Pope Francis put it simply, “The joy of the Christian is not the gladness of the moment.”
The Pope then asks, “What is it, this joy? Is it having fun? No, it is not the same thing. Having fun is good, enjoying ourselves is good. But joy is something more, something else. It…does not come from temporary conditions…it is a gift of the Lord.” It cannot be tied to the present moment. As wonderful as those moments might seem, every one of them can be taken away in an instant. Hasn’t COVID-19 proven this?
Christian joy isn’t connected with jumping up and down shouting “Alleluia!” It is the calm realization that it is God who holds us together through the events of life. It does not just happen to us. It is a choice we make. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and that God is our refuge and safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us.
Back in March, Pope Francis spoke these words to a distraught, almost joyless world: “Why are you afraid? Faith begins when we realize we are in need of salvation. We are not self-sufficient; by ourselves we flounder. We need the Lord, like the ancient navigators who needed the stars. Let us invite Jesus into the boats of our lives. Let us hand over our fears to him so that he can conquer them. Like the disciples, we will experience that with him on board there will be no shipwreck. Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms.”
This is what allows us to be not just happy but joyful! This Christmas will be unlike any other Christmas. It will different, smaller, simpler…but so was the first Christmas! But COVID-19 does not eradicate the joy of the Church, our joy in celebrating the Incarnation and Nativity of the Lord…what God has done with us in His infinite love…a love that causes us to “rejoice always!”
