JOY TO THE WORLD

 A REFLECTION FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY IN ADVENT

We all began our existence at the moment of conception, when God infused life into a tiny embryo in the womb of our mother.  Our parents produced that little embryo through the Sacrament of Marriage, while our loving God provided it with a living soul that would continue to exist forever.  This beginning of life is a miracle that happens thousands of times daily across the world, and is a cause of joy wherever the hand of God so animates the souls of his little creatures.  Another child is conceived, another human life is formed, already redeemed by Christ’s Passion and Death, prepared now in the womb of its mother to be saved by the waters of baptism and a life led according to the love of God. 

The infinitely greater significance of the conception of the Son of God gives rise to a correspondingly greater joy.  “Joy to the world, the Lord is come… let heaven and nature sing… repeat, repeat the sounding joy!”  It is the heartfelt joy of a world that has been groaning in the darkness of sin for four thousand years, the joy of a people that has been walking in darkness and now have seen a great light.  It is the joy of both shepherds and kings, the joy of a simple old man holding the Christ Child in his arms, finally ready to be freed from the confines of this earthly life to be united forever with God “for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.”  It is the song of a maiden, who rejoices that he who “hath put down the mighty from their seat hath exalted the humble and meek.”

It is, in short, the joy that only the presence of God can bring.  In the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, we rejoice in that presence, from the moment of Christ’s Incarnation to his Nativity in Bethlehem, and then onwards through his entire life.  Although the joyful mysteries appear to end with the finding of the Christ Child in the temple, our rejoicing extends beyond that event and ends only at the Last Supper.  The twelve-year-old boy speaking with the elders in the temple would grow into a man, spreading his teaching to the multitudes, revealing God’s great truths, healing the sick by his miracles, and instituting the seven sacraments so that man could be healed from his sins.  We rejoice this week in the beginning of the Life of Christ, but our joy shall continue…