Sermon Blog
Religious Joy
December 27, 2024
It is Christmas. It is here and not gone yet. These eight days in celebration of our Lord’s birth keep the joy of His nativity present to us even though Christmas day has passed. Even this period of time is too short to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation, but certainly one day is too short. Of the many lessons we can learn from this great feast, St. John Henry Nemwan, in his homily “Religious Joy,” puts forth two that are closely related: lowliness (humility) and joy.
These two character traits may seem opposed. We who are low may be low for many reasons: We may be of little importance in society, poor in money, health, influence, intelligence, manual skill, athleticism, confidence and so forth. And naturally these are things the world would pity. They do not bring joy.
But in the eyes of faith, lowliness is put on a pedestal. Of the poor shepherds whom God chose to be the first witnesses to our Saviour’s birth, Newman says, “Why then were they chosen? for their poverty’s sake and obscurity. Almighty God looks with a sort of especial love, or (as we may term it) affection, upon the lowly.” Or as St. Paul writes in his first letter to Corinth, “For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are …”
Certainly we do not want to make poverty itself—squalor and meanness—a virtue, as if it were the aim of the Christian life. But there is a certain poverty necessary to joy and happiness because it brings God close to us. That poverty is a state of utter need and dependence on God. It is the poverty of the publican (tax collector) who begs God for mercy, as opposed to the plenty of the Pharisee whose prayer is a celebration of himself. Fr. Jacques Phillipe points out that many people do not see God do great miracles in their lives because they rarely allow themselves to be in a position of need before him. They take matters into their own hands.
Lowliness or humility are a necessary condition to joy because they bring joy to the present by reminding us to set our hearts on the Person who alone can satisfy us: Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we will constantly look for a better job, more money, a bigger house, more followers on social media, more power, etc. None of these are bad in themselves, but they cannot be our hope. They are always somewhere in the future, and if somehow brought to the present, are unsatisfying and quickly discarded in hopes of something better.
Our Lord meets us, like the shepherds, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives: at work in a tough job, in our small house or apartment, with the limited resources we have. He meets us in the simple, perhaps unexciting course of our days. This is where He asks us to love him. St. Josemaria, the saint of ordinary life, puts it this way: “Rest assured that you will usually find few opportunities for dazzling deeds, one reason being that they seldom occur. On the other hand, you will not lack opportunities in the small and ordinary things around you, of showing your love for Christ.” If we accept this reality, our prize is the pearl of great price which we would sell all we have to possess.
Our Lord bids us to be joyful in our lowliness because it is our choice. Christmas teaches us this: “… instead of anxiety within and despondence without, instead of a weary search after great things,—to be cheerful and joyful; and, again, to be so in the midst of those obscure and ordinary circumstances of life which the world passes over and thinks scorn of.” With our Lord so close to us, residing in our souls, how can we be anything but joyful?
