{"id":3037,"date":"2010-12-12T09:17:49","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T09:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2010\/12\/grace-and-loveliness-and-joy\/"},"modified":"2018-12-16T08:28:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T08:28:02","slug":"grace-and-loveliness-and-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2010\/12\/grace-and-loveliness-and-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace, and Loveliness, and Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Angel<\/a>
\nGaudete Sunday<\/strong>
\nThe Four Introits of Advent<\/strong>
\nWe began Advent on the crest of a surging wave, an immense welling up of hope that lifted us out of ourselves and carried us Godward: \u201cAll my heart goes out to Thee, my God; I trust in Thee\u201d (Ps 24:1). Last Sunday, the Introit did not address God at all; it was a clarion call, a trumpet blast to wake us up, to shake us up, a summons to open our hearts to the joy of the glorious voice of the Lord (Is 30:30). On Ember Wednesday, and again next Sunday, the Introit will again become pure prayer, a cry wrenched from the depths of human experience, a plea for the dew from heaven, the dew that refreshes and makes fruitful. \u201cSend down dew from above you heavens, and let the skies pour down upon us the rain we long for, him, the Just One\u201d (Is 45:8).
\n
\nThe Gift of Joy<\/strong>
\nToday\u2019s Introit is one of the few drawn from Saint Paul. It is an exhortation to joy, but its mood is quiet and reflective. \u201cJoy to you in the Lord at all times; once again I wish you joy. Give proof to all of your courtesy. The Lord is near. Nothing must make you anxious; in every need, make your requests known to God, praying and beseeching Him, and giving Him thanks as well\u201d (Phil 4:4-6).<\/p>\n

What the Latin gives as, \u201cgaudete,\u201d and the English as \u201crejoice,\u201d is astonishingly rich in Saint Paul\u2019s Greek. Any one translation would be inadequate. Paul says, \u201ccha\u00edrete.\u201d It is the very same word used by the angel Gabriel to greet the Virgin of Nazareth. \u201cChaire, kecharitom\u00e9n\u00e8!\u201d \u201cJoy to you, O full of grace!\u201d (Lk 1:28). The word is untranslatable. Just when we think we have seized its meaning once and for all, another door opens inside it. \u201cCha\u00edrete\u201d was the ordinary greeting of the Greeks. It embraces health, salvation, loveliness, grace, and joy, all at once. In the mouth of Christians, the taste of the word is indescribable. \u201cGrace to you, and loveliness, and joy in the Lord; again I wish you grace, and loveliness, and joy\u201d (Phil 4:4). Paul\u2019s greeting is not so much an imperative — a command to be joyful — as it is the imparting of a gift in the Lord. \u201cWhat I wish for you, what I send you, what I give you in the Lord is grace, and loveliness, and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Countenance Serene and Heavenly<\/strong>
\nThe second sentence becomes more intelligible in the light of the first. Paul says, \u201cLet your gentleness — or your modesty, your courtesy, your forbearance, your serenity, your meekness — be known to everyone\u201d (Phil 4:5). In other words, give evidence around you of the gift you have received: grace, and loveliness, and joy in the Lord. The widowed Baroness de Chantal, writing of her first encounter with Saint Francis de Sales, says that his countenance was serene and heavenly, and that some assurance in it of inward peace seemed to give instant relief to her grieving heart. Show each other faces that are serene and peaceful, radiant with joy, faces that reflect the loveliness of God. Saint Paul adds, \u201cthe Lord is at hand\u201d (Phil 4:5). This is the great central affirmation of the liturgy today, and every day. Dominus prope est<\/em>. \u201cThe Lord is at hand\u201d (Phil 4:5).
\n
\nAn Affront to the Graciousness of God<\/strong>
\nHe who is to come is already here, near to us, close at hand. God is present, and from his presence streams all grace, all loveliness, all joy. Paul draws a very practical conclusion from this: \u201cNothing must make you anxious\u201d (Phil 4:6). Were God absent, had God not yet come in His Christ and in the gift of His Holy Spirit, we would have reason to worry, reason for anxiety, and for fear. Worry and anxiety are an affront to the graciousness of God, a denial of His nearness to us, a turning from Him who has turned His Face towards us. Self-indulgence in fretting and anxiety is a sin that does not often appear on the radar screen of our consciences, and so it is a sin that, more often than not, goes unconfessed.
\nA thousand reasons not to follow the Apostle\u2019s mandate come to mind. It is easy to listen to the voices of our fears, our insecurities, our need to arrange, rearrange, and attempt to control even things beyond our control. The Apostle says, \u201cHave no anxiety about anything,\u201d but we hold ourselves excused, saying, \u201cIs not a little anxiety, just a little bit of worry reasonable and right?\u201d Saint Paul is not moved by our rationalizations. \u201cNothing must make you anxious\u201d (Phil 4:6).
\n
\nFear Not<\/strong>
\nAt the moment of Holy Communion the Church sings the words of Isaiah, the Advent prophet: \u201cSay to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold, God Himself will come and will save you\u201d (Is 35:4). The \u201cbehold\u201d of the antiphon echoes the \u201cbehold\u201d of the invitation to Communion: \u201cBehold, the Lamb of God; behold, our God will come and save us!\u201d And so, He comes. The Lamb comes in the mysteries of His Body and Blood to comfort us and exorcise us of all our fears.<\/p>\n

Saint James says something similar. \u201cBe you therefore also patient, and strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.\u201d (Jas 5:8). James invites to a stability of the heart: Confirmate corda vestra<\/em>, \u201cStrengthen, or stabilize your hearts\u201d (Jas 5:8), and this, because the advent of the Lord is best prepared in stillness. You know well the word of the psalmist, \u201cBe still before the Lord and wait in patience; calm your anger and forget your rage; do not fret, it only leads to evil\u201d (Ps 36:7-8). Saint James enjoins us not to complain, not to grumble. Like Holy Father Benedict, he sees in murmuring a detestable vice. \u201cGrudge not, brethren, one against another, that you may not be judged. Behold the Judge standeth before the door.\u201d (Jas 5:9).
\n
\nA Life Without Worry<\/strong>
\nSaint Paul, for his part, gives us the key to a worry-free life, the means to stop grumbling, the way to, \u201cbe still before the Lord and wait in patience\u201d (Ps 36:7). It is disarmingly simple. \u201cIn every need,\u201d he says, \u201cmake your requests known to God, praying and beseeching Him, and giving Him thanks as well\u201d (Phil 4:6). The Apostle sends us to prayer because in prayer God accomplishes the things that of ourselves, and by ourselves, we are unable to do. In prayer we wait, all of us — the weak, the feeble, the blind, the deaf, and the lame — for God\u2019s gifts of grace, and loveliness, and joy. Prayer is what makes the desert rejoice and blossom. Prayer is the irrigation of the dried-up heart. \u201cIt shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God\u201d (Is 35:1-2).
\n
\nThe Eucharistic Inbreaking of Joy<\/strong>
\nToday\u2019s Introit, you see, is a blessed imperative and a gracious gift. It sent us into the hearing of the Word of God, and now it sends us to the altar, to the place of Christ\u2019s priestly prayer to the Father, to the wellspring of our joy. To us who \u201cknow not how to pray as we ought\u201d (Rom 8:26), the Holy Spirit will communicate the prayer of Christ offering Himself. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the inbreaking of divine joy. \u201cJoy to you in the Lord at all times; once again I wish you joy\u201d (Phil 4:4). Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaudete Sunday The Four Introits of Advent We began Advent on the crest of a surging wave, an immense welling up of hope that lifted us out of ourselves and carried us Godward: \u201cAll my heart goes out to Thee, my God; I trust in Thee\u201d (Ps 24:1). Last Sunday, the Introit did not address <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-liturgy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-MZ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19781,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037\/revisions\/19781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}