Advent – Week 3: Joy
Happiness is an emotion that can disappear as quickly as it rises to the surface. Joy, however, is a choice.
We have a choice. God gives us a joy that is unconquerable. We can choose to live in an attitude of resentment, anger and fear or we can choose to pursue the joy of Christ.
One of the reasons Pope Francis is so admired around the world is because of his constant joy. By his words and his example, he tells us the Church should be a place of joy. It follows that we, as members of the Church, should also be people of joy. The angels who hover over the manger came to bring joy. As Luke writes, “Do not be afraid: for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy.” Are our lives too noisy to hear the joyful song of the angels? Are we too busy to look up and see them singing in the night?
Even if we are not yet feeling all the joy of Christmas, we can still give the gift of joy to others. The beauty of the angels was not so much in that they were joyful themselves, but that they brought joyful tidings to the world. For a Christian, this should be a time to bring as much joy as possible to as many people as possible.