Fr Xavier Writes 17th December 2023

The joy of Advent shines forth. We are urged to rejoice and be happy because the Lord is near. It also tells us that joy is basic to being Christian and our vocation is to radiate this joy. Many of us are more familiar with the message of carrying the cross than its abiding characteristic of joy. Jesus is not a man of sorrow and grief because, as he concluded his ministry and was about to leave, he says: ‘These things I have spoken to you that my joy might be in you and your joy be complete’, (John 15:11). 

We are created for happiness and it’s the purpose of our whole being, but somehow this happiness seems to escape us as we go searching after it in the wrong places. Our greatest mistake is to equate joy with pleasure and to look for it in material things. We can buy pleasure and it will cost us dearly, but all the money in the world cannot purchase happiness. All the more the Christian joy is much deeper and richer than the smile and laughter upon happy faces. 

The joy and happiness of being a Christian comes from an awareness that God is with us and produces a contentment and an inner peace that cannot be taken from us. Friendship with God is the source of Christian joy; a characteristic of our soul that cannot be easily described but should be evident in the life of a believer. 

We are so caught up with our daily problems that we fail to reflect the joy of that marvellous truth: ‘that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son and that whoever believes in him might not die but may have eternal life’ (John 3:16). There is no greater proof of love than to give of ourselves to others. Our Christmas joy cannot be complete unless we show generosity to those who have nothing to give to us in return. The happiest people are those who are doing most for others, because by experience they know it is in giving that we receive. 

Have a joy-filled week ahead.