Rejoice in God

3rd Sunday In Advent
13 December 2009


Come, let us worship the Lord, the King who is to come.


First reading Zephaniah 3:14-18

Shout for joy, daughter of Zion,
Israel, shout aloud!
Rejoice, exult with all your heart,
daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has repealed your sentence;
he has driven your enemies away.
The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst;
you have no more evil to fear.
When that day comes, word will come to Jerusalem:
Zion, have no fear,
do not let your hands fall limp.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a victorious warrior.
He will exult with joy over you,
he will renew you by his love;
he will dance with shouts of joy for you
as on a day of festival.

Canticle Isaiah 12
The rejoicing of a redeemed people

Second reading Philippians 4:4-7

I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near.
There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.

Gospel Luke 3:10-18

When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’
A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.


Reflection
By Jeanne Therese Hilario-Andres

Shout for joy! Sing joyfully! Cry out with joy and gladness! Rejoice in the Lord always!

What marvelous superlatives. What extreme emotions. What a superabundance of exclamation points. I can almost picture Zephaniah, Isaiah and Paul scribbling smiley faces and putting dancing emoticons onto their divinely-inspired manuscripts.

Sometimes, it is effortless to rejoice in God and shout for joy, especially when things are going our way, or when we are giving thanks to God with others. It is easier to get caught up in the moment and to feel joyful and exuberant when we have just gotten some good news, or as we listen to other people’s triumphs. We laugh, sing, dance, clap our hands and feel an emotional high.

But then we go home and return to daily life. We see our dwindling funds and worsening economy. We deplore rising crime and political turmoil. We weep over broken relationships and family problems. We mourn our losses. We regret the past. We worry about what is to come. And then, easily, unwittingly, we forget to give thanks, to rejoice, to cry out with gladness to the Lord. Instead, we brood, we plan, we devise ways to survive our daily lives and be in control of our future.

In my mind, the opposite of thanksgiving is not ingratitude, but anxiety. Fear. Disquiet. Useless concern. The moment we stop trusting in the Lord, we stop giving thanks. We stop rejoicing. We stop celebrating.

Confidence and courage in God naturally leads to extraordinary joy which surpasses the fleeting pleasures offered by the world. Joyful remembrance of God’s past faithfulness leads to childlike trust and an impenetrable shield of hope. It is a beautiful, nourishing, life-altering cycle which produces a deep-seated peace that no one can steal.

What chains of worry and anxiety are binding you? What is restricting you from surrendering all your cares on the Lord? What is keeping you from dancing and crying out for joy to God at all times, in all circumstances, in all situations? Surrender them all to Him. Cast them all at His feet.

As we enter deeper into this season of Advent, no matter what may be happening in the world around us, let us rejoice and cry out with joy to the Lord, for He is our Saviour, Protector and Provider. In Him, our joy is forever renewed.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are my joy. You are my hope. You are my shield. Grant me grace to rejoice in You and to trust in Your power. Give me lasting joy and the peace that transcends all understanding. I surrender all my fears, chains and burdens to You, Lord. For You are my God, and all my hope, all my joy, all my trust is in You. Amen.

Next week on God-speak
The Lady with the Blackened Feet