The liturgy of today’s Mass repeats the words of St. Paul(Phil4:4). And the Apostle goes on to give the basic reason for this profound happiness: the Lord is at hand.

This is also the joy of Advent, and that of every day: Jesus is very near us. He is nearer every day. And gives us the key to understanding the origin of any unhappiness we may feel: it comes from our putting a distance between ourselves and God, through our sins, through tepidity.

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you (Luke1:28), said the Angel to Mary. It is the nearness of God which makes the Virgin rejoice. And the nearness of the Messiah will make the unborn Baptist show forth his joy in the womb of Elizabeth (Luke2:4).

And the Angel will say to the shepherds: Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to al/the people; for to youth born this day a Saviour (Luke2:10-11). Joy is to possess Jesus; unhappiness is to lose him. 

Rejoice, says. St. Paul. We shall be full of joy if Our Lord is really present in our life, if we have not lost him, if we have not allowed our sight to be clouded by tepidity or lack of generosity. When one attempts to discover happiness along other paths which lead away from God, all one finds in fact is sorrow and misery. All those who, in one way or another, ever turned their backs on God have had the same experience: they have proved that apart from God there is no true happiness. There can be none. 

With permission from Scepter UK. Short excerpt from IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD by Francis Fernandez. Available at SinagTala or Totus Bookstore 723-4326 or at www.totusbookstore.com.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please email info@defensoresfidei.com.

The DEFENSORES FIDEI FOUNDATION actively spreads Ecclesial Information, Catechetical Instructions and Apologetics in pursuit of making good Catholics better Catholics.  Any contribution to help this apostolate is heaven-sent.

Please visit us at www.defensoresfidei.com.