Rejoicing with Mary

When you think of someone who is really holy, what are some of the characteristics that come to mind? Do you think of a monk off in a cave in the middle of the desert fasting and praying constantly? What about the parents of five kids doing their best to raise faithful children by teaching them how to pray and coming to church? What about a sister working in the inner city of a major metropolitan area teaching poor students? What do their faces look like? Are they joyful?

Today is traditionally called “Gaudate Sunday” from the latin phrase, “Let us rejoice.” We get this phrase from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians that is the opening antiphon to today’s mass, though we hear it just as strongly in the second reading today from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. Paul says to us, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” This joy is a constitutive element of Christianity. We are to rejoice always. Our prayer is filled with rejoicing for the God who has accomplished so much in Christ Jesus. This means that we joyfully give thanks, which is another way of saying the word Eucharist. We cannot live dour lives if we are faithfully giving thanks for what God has accomplished in Christ Jesus. This is a distinctive feature of Christianity. Atheism leads to futility, frustration, and lack of meaning. Hedonism, or love of pleasure, cannot find joy in suffering and pain. Christianity, on the other hand, leads us to a profound sense of thankfulness and can even see through the pain of this world to the joy we will have in our everlasting home in heaven.

But St. Paul is no Pollyanna; He’s a saint. He recognizes three things that can take away the joy of faith. First he says, “Do not quench the Spirit.Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.” Let’s face it, along our journey, there are people with different gifts. Some people are better at things than we are and, for some of us, there seems to be a lot of people that are better at things than we are. I can almost guarantee that all of you are better at science and math than I am. That’s not the way that my brain works. The danger is when someone is good at living the holy life. We can get jealous of them and their spirituality. This may lead us to try and prove the hypocrisy of them or we may try to copy their spirituality and find that it is not ours. This is why we are to try it out. If it draws you to God then it is good. If not, then don’t do it. This wisdom also governs the church’s attitude to private revelation. In other words, when people see an image of Mary or receive an appearance of Mary somewhere, the church never mandates belief in that because it is a personal, private experience that helps them grow in faith. If it helps other people to draw closer to God, then we tell them to retain it. If it doesn’t, then refrain from it.

So, living a joyful life means that we are called to live a life of holiness. Paul says, “May the God of peace make you perfectly holyand may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This life of holiness to which we are called is the definition of a joyful life. Sin is what brings about sadness. In our Eucharistic Prayer, it says, “Your Spirit is at work when understanding puts an end to strife, when hatred is quenched by mercy, and vengeance gives way to forgiveness.”Yet, the life of holiness itself can seem like a frustration. Oftentimes, in trying to rid ourselves of sin, we can become so fixated on our inadequacies that we can lose light of the forgiveness of God. There are people who become so fixated on this that they will confess the same sin over and over again. Others, in their frustration, simply stop trying to live the life of holiness and indulge in sensuality. This is why Paul prays “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.” We cannot become frustrated in our sins and lose sight of the forgiveness of God and the forgiveness of the church. This Tuesday we will celebrate the last of our communal reconciliation liturgies, which is a sacramental way to celebrate God’s forgiveness. But, this Eucharist itself, forgives the minor sins that we commit and draws us closer into the body of Christ. It enflames our heart with the joy of Mary who’s joyful hymn was sung during the responsorial psalm, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant.” Let us rejoice with Mary this Sunday.