Advent Like Mary: Week 3 Meditations on Joy

I encourage you to go to your advent wreath (buy or make one).  Each year for the last 10 years or so, we light the candle each week and sing to this tune: “Light one candle for joy one bright candle for peace, Christ brings joy to every heart, he comes, he comes.”

Week 3: Joy

Once again, my children have helped catechize me in the true meaning of these advent themes. Week 3 celebrates Gaudete Sunday, a Sunday of, “Rejoice! He is almost here!”

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my youngest kids are boy girl twins named Pax and Joy. Last week I discussed Pax’s peaceful effect, slow and intentional. This week, I want to take a closer look at Joy and how her enthusiasm for life is contagious. While Pax was cautious, Joy was almost brazen. Her confidence and courage was hard to keep up with! Yet, Joy reminds me of life on the Holy Spirit.

Remember those commercials? “This is your brain… This is your brain on drugs.” featuring an egg in a frying pan? Apply this to our lives. This is our life (regular, routine, difficult, cautious). This is our life on the Holy Spirit (Extraordinary, spontaneous, effortless, courageous). Joy’s approach to life reminds me of what happens when we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives. 

How does one define true joy? Extreme happiness perhaps, but we know true joy is much deeper. True joy is linked with the Holy Spirit. I want to take a second and tell you all the first time I encountered the spirit and also the first time I encountered true joy. And that’s not a coincidence 

Take a second and listen to My First Encounter with the Holy Spirit.

Mary Shows Us Joy

So how do we seek true joy in this world? Let’s see how Mary did, taking the Visitation to meditate on.

Mary knew that embracing the Holy Spirit would result in true joy. We are happiest and most joyful when we say “Yes” to HIS will for our lives over what we think should happen. His will demands our “Yes”. The world teaches us that when we do what we want when we want it, we find fulfillment, but it’s just not true. Through our “yes” to GODS will, we experience JOY.

True Joy comes from saying Yes to God and sharing his blessing with others. In Luke's gospel, Mary shows us this that after she says Yes to God’s will at the annunciation, she “makes haste” (or hurries!) to Elizabeth. She greets her cousin, Elizabeth and then, “the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit!” She then tells Mary, “blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb…”

In Luke 1:46 Mary responds to Elizabeth with the Magnificat or song of Mary. which says:

“My soul magnifies the Lord. and my spirit (leaps for joy) rejoices in God my savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.”

Joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit! Joy is given for all those who respond to the Spirit, who invite the Spirit to lead, to guide, to inspire.

The Holy Spirit desires to move within us, we just have to invite it. The Holy Spirit moves us towards God’s will. Sometimes we don’t know what to do or where to go, which is where the Spirit comes in. 

The Holy Spirit is God on earth, our advocate, our guide. The feeling of God’s presence, of joy and peace and consolation often come from the Holy Spirit. Let us take a minute and pray together and remember that God is nearer than we think. His plan for us is closer than we imagine. Let's sit down, put our palms up facing heaven and place our hands on our laps. This prayerful posture tells God with our bodies that we are ready to receive what he has for us. Also, the Holy Spirit is known as breath, or the wind. The Hebrew word, “Ruah” means breath, spirit, wind, and air. So with the prayer, “Come Holy Spirit,” and take a deep breath, I imagine breathing in God’s presence.

Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit. We invite you here to dwell among us today. We ask you to help us open our hearts to be open to the stirrings and movements of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. Come Holy Spirit, Send us your peace and your joy. Guide us on the path the Lord wants for us and give us courage to say Yes to what God may desire from us. Give us courage to speak up for what’s right. Help us to be compassionate to those who are suffering. Help us to grow in our understanding of our Faith and how much God loves us. Help us to understand the huge gift of Christ at Christmas. And Guide our steps and remain with us, always. In your holy name, we pray, Amen.

Live out joy from here but remembering… Whenever you feel lonely or need to feel God’s presence. Whenever you may be confused and not know where to go, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and say, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

Have Joy Like Mary

Mary gives us a recipe or tips to follow in order to have access to true peace. 

1. Don’t cling so tightly to your own will.

2. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you with joy and as a guide to point toward God's will.

3. Let the Spirit use you to build up the body of Christ around you.

REMEMBER: 

True and lasting joy is a fruit that Holy Spirit gives when we surrender our lives to God and invite the Holy Spirit into our life. Let's always make room for God in our hearts.

ACT:

Ask the Holy Spirit to help guide you and your families life.

SONG:

Listen to Joy to the World. "Let every heart prepare him room."