Jesus is Near: Let us Rejoice! 

What gives me more joy than anything else on earth? What do I think about with joy most often? To what do my thoughts keep turning? A person I love? Life? Beauty? The work that I do? 

Today’s Entrance Antiphon suggests we go deeper. “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Why? Because “the Lord is near.”  This is what makes us able to rejoice in everything else. 

The joy we find in those we love, in life, beauty, and the contribution we are making to life on this planet would be bittersweet if we were going to lose it all through death. But we aren’t. All true joy will last forever. Because of Jesus, our joy on earth will be our joy in heaven—only more so. 

The Opening Prayer asks that we who “look forward to the birthday of Christ may experience the joy of salvation.” How can we experience this joy? 

The answer is, “by reflection and celebration.” We have to think about what we remember enough to understand and appreciate it. But unless we also celebrate it, expressing our joy with conscious enthusiasm, our appreciation will be like a stifled fire. Joy needs air to breathe. We just have to open the windows for it to explode. 

Advent is dedicated to this. And this third Sunday of Advent is named “Rejoice Sunday” (Gaudete in Latin) to remind us that “the Lord is near.” 

Matthew 11: 2-11 tells us what to expect from Jesus. John the Baptizer had it wrong: he expected Jesus to get him out of prison. But Jesus is not that kind of savior. He sent word to John: “The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” Jesus frees from interior slavery, not external oppression. 

The truth is, we are all blinded to some extent by our culture. We have been programmed to false attitudes and values, wrong priorities. This is why we can’t walk as we should in the footsteps of Christ. It is why we are deaf to so much in his word. This is why we are not cleansed of so many things that incline us to selfishness, incite us to evil, and inhibit us from doing good. 

It doesn’t take too many years of adult experience to convince us that, left to ourselves, we are gradually, even unconsciously, going to veer off toward destructiveness and distortion, toward mediocrity and meaninglessness in all we do. It is hard to row against the tide of culture. 

When we realize this—when we come to this act of “life-giving despair”—that is when we are able to cry out with passionate desire, “O Lord, come and save us!” 

And he will. He is already doing it. “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Rejoice: “The Lord is near.” 

Advent invites us to recognize his presence, to seek his face in prayer, to listen to his words, to reflect on them in our hearts, and—by interacting with him at home and at school, at work and at play—to live them out in action. 

Prayer Prompt: What is there in my life that I would like Jesus to make better? Have I been crying out to him, “O Lord, come and save us!”? Have I also been interacting with him in this area of my life, applying his words to what I do there, consulting him “on the spot” all day long? How could I remind myself to do this? (Perhaps place some image or symbol that says to you, Jesus can make things better. Water? A candle? A star? A manger? A picture? A small Advent wreath? What will work for you? Where is the best place to put such a reminder?) 

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #7, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.