{"id":200,"date":"2011-12-11T21:49:09","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T02:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=200"},"modified":"2011-12-11T21:50:10","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T02:50:10","slug":"real-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=200","title":{"rendered":"Real Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Third Sunday of Advent<\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Is 61: 1-2a, 10-11; 1 Thes 5: 16-24; Jn 1: 6-8, 19-28<\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/o:o:o:p><\/h2>\n

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What is it that gives you joy in your life?\u00a0 <\/span>Have you ever really thought about that.\u00a0 <\/span>Today is Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday in the middle of Advent when the Church asks us to reflect on the coming joy of Christmas.\u00a0 <\/span>Because, as Christians, the joy that comes with the Christ child\u00a0 <\/span>Should be our ultimate joy.\u00a0 <\/span>But is it?\u00a0 <\/span>And how can it be our ultimate joy?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Well, let me ask you again.\u00a0 <\/span>What is the source of the joy in your life?\u00a0 <\/span>Does your joy come from things- like all the goodies you hope Santa leaves under the tree- things like cars and computers and new clothes and video games?\u00a0 <\/span>If you are like me, some of these things can bring excitement and satisfaction- but only for a while.\u00a0 <\/span>And when the fascination wears off, and it eventually does, we will go on looking for something else to amuse us.\u00a0 <\/span>So, speaking for myself, I don\u2019t think things are the source of joy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Maybe you get joy from the goodness and beauty of God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 <\/span>After all, a sunset, a sunrise, a breathtaking view of the mountains, or the seacoast, and the night sky;\u00a0 <\/span>or a beautiful painting, sculpture or other piece of art- these all can raise our spirits, and that\u2019s kind of what joy is.\u00a0 <\/span>But it is passing, and there is something missing- a connection.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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So, perhaps joy comes from relationships.\u00a0 <\/span>After all, that\u2019s where we can really make a connection.\u00a0 <\/span>A baby certainly seems joyful over the baby\u2019s Mom and Dad- particularly the Mom.\u00a0 <\/span>And all of us who have fallen in love know how joyful that can be.\u00a0 <\/span>Ah, yes- love in our relationships can bring us some joy.\u00a0 <\/span>Both of these examples imply love, and a connection.\u00a0 <\/span>So perhaps relationships are the source of our joy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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But even so, there can be a lot of pain when you fall in love with someone.\u00a0 <\/span>There are a number of reasons.\u00a0 <\/span>First, all of us humans put limits on our love.\u00a0 <\/span>Our love is usually conditional, not unconditional. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Unconditional love is really hard, because it means always giving.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s why the love between a Mom and a baby most often seems to portray pure joy, and the same thing between a couple that falls in love. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>But this usually doesn\u2019t last- eventually there will be limits.\u00a0 <\/span>As a child grows up; or as a couple gets to know each other, the limits begin to appear.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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And the second reason is that there is pain in separation because the connection can be broken.\u00a0 <\/span>The most giving of us have experienced that when someone dies that we love or who has loved us or when a child leaves home. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>And that can be anything but joyful because of the pain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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And yet, I am sure that most of you will agree with me that the most joyful experiences we have in life come from our relationships, not from things or nature.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, joy, it would seem, can only be complete by unconditional love and a connection that lasts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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When John the Baptist speaks this morning in today\u2019s Gospel, he says \u201cI am the voice of one crying in the desert, make straight the path of the Lord\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>This echoes the prophecy of Isaiah.\u00a0 <\/span>And Isaiah\u2019s promise was that the Lord\u2019s anointed, the Messiah, would bring glad tidings to everyone.\u00a0 <\/span>These glad tidings would remove all that keeps us from joy- poverty, sickness, broken hearts, captivity, and all such impediments would be removed.\u00a0 <\/span>On the other side, the Messiah brings something positive.\u00a0 <\/span>And what the messiah really brought us was God\u2019s love- the unconditional love of God for His people because God sacrificed His only son, sending Him to become one of us to live, suffer, die, and eventually be resurrected for eternal life and happiness.\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, Jesus showed us the way to true joy and happiness.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s what the Gospel does- it documents the good news.\u00a0 <\/span>It shows us that unconditional love for God is the answer.\u00a0 <\/span>Because unlike any of our other relationships, our relationship with God can be different.\u00a0 <\/span>We have only to recognize the unconditional love that God has for us, and to love God for it, and we will experience everlasting joy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s why Paul tells the Thessalonians to rejoice always and to pray unceasingly.\u00a0 <\/span>The praying part is what keeps us in connection with the Lord.\u00a0 <\/span>We need to develop a loving relationship with the Lord, and maintain it.\u00a0 <\/span>We do that by getting to know the Lord, and by doing His will.\u00a0 <\/span>Prayer is essential for us to do that.\u00a0 <\/span>Rejoicing always comes naturally after that.\u00a0 <\/span>Because no matter how hard life may seem- no matter how our life is burdened with poverty, sickness, broken hearts, captivity, and all such impediments to our joy, the coming of Jesus, the Lord, as Isaiah promised, changes all that because the never ending search for the ultimate happiness is over.\u00a0 <\/span>We need no longer look for the perfect toy, the most beautiful scenery, or the perfect human relationship.\u00a0 <\/span>We have found it- the source of our joy.\u00a0 <\/span>The Christ Child will bring us the source of our ultimate joy.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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So rejoice always, the Lord is coming.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Third Sunday of Advent Is 61: 1-2a, 10-11; 1 Thes 5: 16-24; Jn 1: 6-8, 19-28 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 What is it that gives you joy in your life?\u00a0 Have you ever really thought about that.\u00a0 Today is Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday in the middle of Advent when the Church asks us to reflect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[100,99,101],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}