It’s Gaudete Sunday yet Malvolio walks amongst us; bringing a War against Joy!
The Joy of Advent today began over 2000 years ago when the Jews felt a profound hopefilled-joy well up in their hearts on hearing the Baptist proclaim the imminent coming of the Messiah. It is the Joy of knowing that all your hopes, dreams and wishes are about to come true and this was particularly true for a people who had been ground underfoot by the Gentiles, from the time of the Babylonians to their present rulers, the Romans, and now the rolling stone that Daniel had prophesied was coming:
“You were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth [Daniel 2:31-35].
It is this mystery of the Joy of the Jews before the figure and words of the Baptist that we enter into today on this third Sunday of Advent. We rejoice with them that the Stone is rolling into their midst to break to pieces the edifices of falsehood, corruption and unjust power and plant a new King, a new Kingdom, a new Temple, a New Priesthood and a new People. We call the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, because in the Intriot of the Mass in Latin we have the following words: ‘Gaudete In Domino Semper’ - ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’. So Gaudete Sunday means ‘Rejoicing’ Sunday and it calls us to rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS!
‘To rejoice’ seems a deeper experience than ‘to enjoy’; the latter lasts but a short time and belongs to Chronos-time. ‘To rejoice’, however, seems to come from the depths of our being and is more a Kairos-time reality. Enjoying responds to the pleasure found in the moment of Chronos time, but Rejoicing belongs to Kairos-time and is a deeper encounter with the breath-taking nature of the beautiful. The beautiful that is found in a reality willed by God, namely, a Sacred reality. A person so gripped by this other worldly joy is willing to harken to the Baptist who spells out the food of hope, namely the promises of God are about to be realised. Joy is the response to the promises of hope being fulfilled and so it fires up the human soul to make his crooked mindsets and paths straight, level his mountain and hills of pride, fill in his cynical, despondent and negative heart with the fuel of joy that is hope being fulfilled. Like a rolling stone the Advent of the God-Man will run over all that opposes the Advent of this supernal joy.
Pope John Paul II on 10th World Youth Day put it succinctly what the deepest source of our joys was, in the following words:
The deepest source of our joy is the fact that the Father sent the Son to save the world. The Son takes upon himself the weight of the sins of humanity, and in this way redeems us and guides us on the path that leads to union with the Most Blessed Trinity.
From this deepest of all joys comes the Joy of Advent, the Joy of Christmas, the Joy of childhood, the Joy of family life and Joy of life lived in Faith! Here we find the foundation for the sacredness of all things, namely, one who is born in a stable in Bethlehem and who is the God-Man wrapped as a baby in swaddling clothes. Just consider what life, family life, childhood and winter would be like without Christmas! From this sacred fountain flows out joy into human life, into family life and into the place of home and into the season and time of winter itself; and all of these are blessed, filled with joy and made beautiful because they are all held together by Christmas. Along with this sacred reality there arises a beauty that is seraphic and holy with a weight of glory that can also become a terror to all those who would besmirch, suppress or destroy it - the shekinah kabod!
In these days, the spirit of Malvolio from Twelfth Night arises in and through the establishment Media, the Government and not a few collaborators in the Populace as during this season of Advent they make war against Joy and Christmas. It is time for us not to listen to their din but rather harken to the bells of Advent on this Gaudete Sunday. The last time they cancelled Christmas we did nothing. But the War against Joy has resurfaced again. Yet, let us remember that this Malvolio spirit first reared its ugly frowning head centuries ago when Oliver Crowell - the Great Dictator - and his followers, the Puritans, cancelled Christmas! Thus, Merry England was made merry no more. As a ‘tired man looks at flies’ so did the round heads and the bureaucrats of that time swat the joy out of the heart of England.
More recently in the 20th Century, when Communism arose in Russia, red killjoys closed down Christmas and so did those countries that fell under the influence of the Red menace. And now these Red Killjoys are back again possessing that same communist obsession of totally controlling society, in those who attempt to snuff out the joyful fires of English hearts and in those who stand by watching on as they virtue-signal their joyless compliance! However, a new type of Red Killjoy has arisen from across the pond and clearly, they who follow this have lost not just joy and laughter but also their marbles as they now campaign against Christmas, saying a white Christmas is racist and should be banned! Maybe we need to sing loudly and joyfully the hymn ‘It came upon the Midnight Clear’ and especially these words against such men and women of strife:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.
However much the lunatics are howling neath the moon and stars of Christmas, we must never forget that Government, be it red or blue, has no right and no authority to cancel Christmas, invade a home at Christmas, disrupt a family celebrating Christmas, or destroy human lives of elderly or young at Christmas. Only communists and roundheads ever did this in the past and so cancelling Christmas is a good litmus test for discerning a totalitarian tyranny. If any Government does this then it puts itself against both God and humanity and it clearly sides with the Herods and devils of this world who are always seeking to destroy Life and Joy, especially the Life and Joy of Christmas! As killjoys of Life, Home and Family, they really are anti-Christs!
So servants of this infernal and killjoy spirit beware! You invite both a divine and a human reckoning if you trample upon this sacred time of the year!
Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget;
For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet…
They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes;
They look at our labour and laughter as a tired man looks at flies.
And the load of their loveless pity is worse than the ancient wrongs,
Their doors are shut in the evening; and they know no songs.
….
But we are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet.
Smile at us, pay us, pass us. But do not quite forget.
[‘The Secret People’ by G K Chesterton].
