Gaudete!

As our Church gets ready to celebrate the 3^rd Sunday in Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday,(gaudete means rejoice in Latin), we are called to reflect on the Joy of this season.  We began Advent three Sundays ago; our holy spaces became dressed in the penitential color of purple, as a reminder that this is a season to reconcile ourselves with our Lord. It is a time to prepare our hearts and souls to receive the mystery of our Incarnated Christ into ourselves.   It is a time to reflect on those dark areas in our lives where we may not have the light of Christ and figure out why that is so.  Upon examining those dark areas, we must also decide how to bring light into it so that those shadows from our past or even present situations don’t keep us from the joy that God wants to share with us.

This third Sunday is a time to remind us of that blessing-the gift of joy!

Today in my morning prayer time I reflected on the fact that I chose to be Catholic. Yes, I was born into a Catholic family and as an adult, I wandered around looking for a spiritual connection with my Creator, thinking that I was in control of my own destiny. I was led back to Christ in the Eucharist and in Reconciliation. Those dark areas of my life, He cracked open as I poured my heart in prayer, asking him for mercy and pardon.  I was made aware that He chose me! That even though I was “lost” He never lost sight of me. Gently I heard Him say to my soul, “you are loved, do not fear”.

It was then that I experienced joy like I had never felt in my heart. I can say that the joy of Christ is not one that is satisfied by anything or anyone else.  I tried it and was always met with a dead end. However, once home, God has continued to show me His love.  I am not perfect, and I have realized that God doesn’t expect me to be perfect, just holy.  This for me means to be in constant prayer; to nurture our divine relationship and to talk to Him like I would a best friend.

I have also come to appreciate more those who struggled like I do, those inspiring individuals from all parts of the world, since the beginning of the Church, who now serve as examples for us. One in particular is St. Teresa de Avila. A Spaniard, a woman born in the 1500’s who grew up to become recognized as a Doctor of our Church, and she had a lot to say about prayer.  One writing in particular she reminds us “…if a person is in the habit of speaking to God's Majesty as he would speak to his servant, and never wonders if he is expressing himself properly, but merely utters the words that come to his lips because he has learned them by heart through constant repetition, I do not call that prayer at all -- and God grant no Christian may ever speak to Him so!” 

My faith is always challenging me to be more present to God’s majesty and to be more forgiving of others and of myself. It causes me today to think about how I pray. Advent is a time to rejoice in God’s grace that He places peace and joy in our hearts when we pray with our hearts and not just our lips.

Every time I celebrate this mystery at Mass I rejoice. It is the mystery of a God who reveals himself and still remains hidden; the mystery of my soul who continues to search for Him even though I know that I have found Him; the mystery of my Lord who challenges me to transform and in so doing I become more truly myself; how can I not rejoice?

 

The artist Bernini sculpted (about 1644) a very famous sculpture of  St. Teresa as she experienced God’s love through her personal meditation and prayer. Artists are great for expressing the drama and the symbolism in their work, and this piece is quite spectacular!  He captured in dense white carrera marble a figure defying gravity. This baroque expression has had many critiques; however, to the lay person it speaks sensually and emotionally of God's desire to have a relationship with each of us. I had the pleasure of discovering this amazing large scaled work of stone while in Rome at the ancient and beautiful church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, on the corner of a street named Susanna (random memory).  It speaks to me of the surrender that I must allow when I’m in prayer.   Even though it seems as though she is suffering, she is actually experiencing a kind of rapture, a transformation. This  is a kind of suffering, the letting go of those things that distract us from God's peace and joy; but if we do that we expereince our own transformations and it is joyful when our hearts are joined to the love and hope of Christ. 

One of the fruits of the holy spirit is to be joyful, even in the midst of personal pain and  suffering.

St. Teresa, in her writings and prayers, reminds me of that. During this Advent season who is not seeing random Mall killings in the west and now an elementary school massacre in the east? Who is not aware of the fiscal cliff? Who is not aware of the strife in Africa, in Syria, in Cuba? We look outside ourselves, anywhere and we see pain, injustice, suffering, poverty.

Yet in Advent we are called to look for those same things inside ourselves. Where have I experienced  personal pain, injustice, suffering, poverty and how have I contributed to those same things in others or in my society?

Through prayer we can bring light into this darkened world through our own transformation.  The only way that peace can be in our world if each one of us is able and willing to live a prayer filled life and to live it rejoicing in Christ!

Let us remember, that the Incarnation Mystery is about those things that science cannot explain and that only an open heart can accept in faith. A heart in prayer celebrates at all times. This is why Mass is a celebration!  Let’s come together to rejoice this Sunday as a community that believes that despite the darkness that exists, the Light that Christ brought us through his birth is one that endures and it endures through all of us too, His Church!  We continue to prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth…..Gaudete!