Gaudete in Domino Semper!

“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I say it again, rejoice!”  (Phil 4:4) The letter of St. Paul to the Philippians is a “captivity letter.”  St. Paul wrote these words from a prison cell, where he was being held by the Romans.  Prison cells in the time of Jesus were horrible places.  They were cold, dark and damp…or else stiflingly hot!   And yet, St. Paul writes to rejoice in the Lord always?  His rejoicing, and his command for us to do the same, was clearly not because he was living in comfort.  No, the joy of Gaudete Sunday must be coming from somewhere else.  Because “the Lord is near.”

Josef Pieper once wrote: “We are not the forgers of our own felicity.” We cannot make ourselves happy.  We become happy by giving ourselves away, as Jesus does.  We become happy by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and trusting in Him.   Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous Lutheran theologian and martyr wrote: “Advent is like a prison cell, because it can only be opened from the outside.”  He wrote those words while in a prison cell in a Nazi concentration camp.   Jesus is the one who opens the door and sets us free from our slavery to sin.  And when a person experiences that saving grace, they rejoice!  

We will soon celebrate the first coming of Jesus to the world at Christmas.  We have been talking about his Last Coming in glory at the end of time.  And we know that Jesus is coming to us right now, and every day, especially in His Word and in the sacraments.  His mystical coming to us every day fills us with joy!

We welcome 20 young men from around the diocese of Savannah this weekend to St. Michael’s Church, where they are on a retreat to pray and discern whether God may be calling them to go to the seminary.  These men are all in very different places in their discernment.   For some of them, this is the first intentional thing they have ever done to consider priesthood.  Others are quite sure that they will give the seminary a try.  These generous young men will be present in the front rows at the 11:00 a.m. Mass today.   Please pray for them.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will give them the grace to know what to do and when to do it.  

For the rest of us, on Gaudete Sunday, we know what to do.  Rejoice in the Lord always.  I say it again, rejoice!  The Lord is near. 

Fr. Brett Brannen

Pastor