Finding True Joy Through Detachment and Faith

Today we reach the Gaudete Sunday as it's known, which is just the Latin word for rejoice, taken from St. Paul's reading today. And we have one of these in Advent and then one in Lent. As we... have reached past the midpoint, so to speak, of our penitential season, approaching the celebration of Christmas. And so in this Sunday, I want to reflect on joy. [00:19:10] (29 seconds)


Like what does it mean for Paul to say rejoice and also to follow it up with have no anxiety at all but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. I think all of us desire that joy, but what is it and how do we receive it? How do we have that in our lives? And so joy first and foremost is not a feeling, but it's a state of our soul, like of our heart, right? Where and what God is doing in it. And so it's something that we receive, we prepare to receive from the Lord. It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit as the scriptures tell us. And so that means we're the Holy Spirit. And so what the Holy Spirit is, you're going to find the fruits. So you'll find the fruit of joy and peace and kindness and gentleness, all those fruits of the Holy Spirit. Well, how do I do that? How do I receive that? [00:20:32] (55 seconds)


Because I think we would all desire it. And we have to recognize a couple of different things. One is kind of a detachment from the things of the world, right? There's, I don't know if you're like me or not, but there's oftentimes when you find these things that my heart's become attached to. And so I think it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. And so I think we're to. And I know that the Lord wants to take up that spot in my heart. And so I get attached to different things. And so this journey of life and the spiritual journey is always bringing these things to the Lord and being, Lord, okay, please help me detach from this thing that's kind of taken up a big place in my heart because I want you to have that place, right? And so it's always paying attention to what is it that my heart is becoming attached to. And it could be many different things. It doesn't have to be a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It could be a fruit of the could be something that's, you know, good in itself, but it becomes kind of the, or it takes up the throne of my heart where Jesus is the one who should be there. [00:22:33] (61 seconds)


That's the first thing you want to detach from those things of this life. And so we have to ask the Lord sometimes to know what it is. And then we have to ask him to help us let it go and give it over to him so that it takes the proper place in our heart. Other things are kind of like the, the early desert fathers, they were called. So it was about around the 300s, 400s. Things were a little easier to be a Christian. You weren't as much persecution or martyrdom. And so it became kind of lax is what some of the people thought. And so they would go out into the desert and give their life completely in asceticism, right? They would give everything to the Lord and they would just spend those time in, in prayer and in trying to grow in holiness. [00:24:01] (47 seconds)


Of course, people were attracted to that. And so they began to come out into the desert to ask questions and directions of these who had given their life to Jesus. [00:24:42] (10 seconds)


And one of the things that would happen is there would usually be somebody kind of taken care of that. And they would come and present this person to the desert father. And, and the desert father would ask a question. It would say, is their heart empty of the world so that it can be filled with God? [00:25:52] (19 seconds)


If not, they said, wait till you can do that and then come back. And St. Alphonsus Liguori used the image of, you know, imagine you've got a glass and you want to fill it up with the living water, right? The Holy Spirit as Jesus presents it. But in your glass, it's filled up with earth, right? With dirt, with all the stuff of the world. He said, you can't get much water into that. And so they would come out into the desert and they would pray with them and they would fill it up with God. And so one of those things is that detachment. But another is, what are those struggles that I have? Those, those sins, those weaknesses in my life that I need to bring to the Lord. I need to bring to confession. I need to ask him to help empty my heart of the things of the world so that it can be filled with the things of heaven, right? His very presence. So that's one of the other ways of like preparing our heart for that joy. Because it's going to be something God pours into our hearts in this life. And we have to recognize that joy can't be taken away by circumstances, by sufferings, by crosses that we may face in this life. That wouldn't be joy at all. [00:26:50] (71 seconds)


And so we can actually live a joyful life even amidst the crosses and sufferings of our life. Think of somebody like St. Teresa of Calcutta, right? We know now that she was in this kind of situation. She was in this kind of situation. She was in this kind of situation. She was in this kind of spiritual darkness. By the way, she had asked for that, like a participation in the people that she was ministering to who didn't have faith. She asked for participation in that. And Jesus gave her that participation for about 50 years of her life where she didn't recognize his presence. But that didn't stop her. She was every morning in prayer throughout the day in prayer, serving the poorest of the poor. And everyone that would meet her would say she's just so joyful. Right? They experienced the joy in her life even though she was in a bit of darkness, spiritually speaking, on that journey. No one knew that. And that's kind of how joy works. It comes through us because Jesus is at work in us whether we feel that or experience it in that way or not. She was one of the most joyful people people had ever met. Had no idea the thing that was going on, the cross that she was carrying. She was one of the most joyful people people had ever met. Had no idea the thing that was going on, the cross that she was carrying. She was one of the most joyful people that was making her extremely holy, by the way. That is what our crosses do. So how do I do that? [00:28:48] (82 seconds)


Well, the first thing is recognize your cross and don't be like me. Don't recognize your cross and then drag it around all mad. Okay? That's what I feel like I do sometimes. You know how kids, they drag it around because they're upset about something and just throw it around and fling it around? That's what I feel like I do sometimes when Jesus sends me a cross because I've always prepared myself for some other cross. I've always prepared myself for some other cross. I've always prepared myself for some other cross. I've always prepared myself for some other cross. I'm like, I could do that one, right? It's never the one you get, though. It's always the one you're not prepared to receive. [00:31:48] (28 seconds)


And so instead, I try to just embrace what's going on. Lord, I know you're with me. Help me to embrace this cross because I know that's how you're uniting me with you in this moment. And then I try to be grateful for it. I thank God for this participation in his cross. And I begin to be better at experiencing, that joy in the midst of the struggles. Because Jesus doesn't want to give us something like joy that can be taken away by circumstances or struggles. I have to keep surrendering to him in those moments, my will, so that I can do his. And as we do that, we become more joyful people, those who others are drawn to the gospel. Remember, Pope Francis's first encyclical was about the joy of the gospel. And now he said, that draws people to Jesus. Joy is that intangible that we are experiencing when we're united with Jesus that draws others to him. And they want to have that, just like everyone that met St. Teresa of Calcutta was drawn to that. They're like, what does she have? Because whoever that is, I want it, right? And that's Jesus. That's who he desires to fill us with that joy in our own lives. So bring those things to prayer this week. Ask the Lord, for that gift of joy, that fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, that is going to prepare us for that great gift that he's promised us over this Advent and Christmas, that gift, a deeper gift of faith, right? And that's what we want to ask him for today, that on this Gaudete Sunday, on this Sunday of rejoicing, of choosing to rejoice, that the Lord would help us to do that, that he would help us recognize the circumstances, the crosses, and the struggles. They don't take it away, but if we unite, ourselves with him in those moments, we'll begin to experience it and live it in a powerful way, so that we can live the truth of what St. Paul tells us to do today, which is to rejoice in the Lord always. He says, I'll say it again, rejoice. [00:34:48] (130 seconds)