Fernando Gallego, ca. 1500
Epistle for the Third Sunday in Advent (Phi 4:4-7)
Brethren: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety, but in every prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Continuation of the Holy Gospel According to St. John (1:19-28)
At that time, the Jews sent to John from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou? And he acknowledged and did not deny; and he acknowledged, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Are thou Elias? And he said, I am not. Are you the Prophet? And he answered, No. They therefore said to him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What hast thou to say of thyrself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as said Isaias the prophet. And they who had been sent were from among the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him, Why, then, dost thou baptize, if thou are not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet? John said to them in answer, I baptize with water; but in the midst of you there has stood One Whom you do not know. He it is Who is to come after me, Who has been set above me, the strap of Whose sandal I am not worthy to loose. These things took place at Bethany, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The Saving Words of the Gospel.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Transcript of Sermon
Rejoice always, and that’s an order, according to St. Paul; he says it in the imperative. So, it’s not a suggestion, it’s a command that he’s giving to this church in Philippi. This letter is probably one of the most beautiful of all the ones that he wrote. And this would be a strange command if Paul were speaking about emotions, or feelings, or passions, and he certainly is not. He’s speaking about what he discusses elsewhere as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. And this is not something that he encourages us towards just for the Third Sunday in Advent. Rather, he says “always”; Rejoice always in the Lord. So, keep it up.
Paul is speaking of joy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It’s not a feeling, it’s not an emotion, not a passion, it’s not a virtue. So, what is it? Well, passions are those things that stir in our soul, stir us to action. They have to do with our dealings with existential things, those things that we need for survival, whether of the individual or of the human race. And so, the passions regard what is called concupiscible and irascible realities; our food, reproduction, self-defense, etc., and how we perceive goods as threatening them or serving those ends.
Paul is not talking about that. He’s not talking about passions. He’s not talking about feelings, which is our subjective awareness of what those other things can produce. He’s referring to fruit of the Holy Spirit. So, if it’s not a feeling, it’s not a passion, it’s not an emotion, what is it? They are character traits of a soul in a state of grace that is led by the Holy Spirit. And a fruit, as we know in general terms, is the product of labor; previous labor.
A farmer plows, he sows the seed, he waters, he weeds, he keeps threatening animals from eating the crops, he harvests, processes, and then comes the fruit of the labor. There’s a lot of work that goes on before that can be a food on the table, and one can relish it. But it is precisely the end-product; it’s the result of many actions beforehand. And the fruit brings satisfaction; it brings delight as one acts upon it.
Interestingly, when Paul speaks about the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, he says carpos, which is singular. So, he speaks of one fruit of the Holy Spirit, but elsewhere he will enumerate a bunch of expressions: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity. So, in other words, those are all expressions of the work of the Holy Spirit within one’s soul. For there to be fruits of the Holy Spirit, we need to be in a state of grace. And so, there are conditions for this. It’s not something that we can produce at will.
These character traits blossom as we grow accustomed to cooperation with the Holy Spirit. So, more than mere actions, they’re the fruits of many previous actions in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Aquinas specifies that many fruits of the Holy Spirit are simply effortless actions that bring about delight in the soul as the result of a long history of virtue. Learning to ride a bike is the virtue; the ease and the enjoyment one derives from doing it is the fruit. People say to musicians that practice makes perfect, and that’s not true. Perfect practice makes perfect. Poor practice, mediocre practice, just perpetuates the mediocrity. But when the musician is virtuous, a true virtuoso, one who has done the hard work, then he can enjoy the fruits of it through the ease with which he plays, and therefore it brings about a certain delight. That’s what the fruits of the Holy Spirit are.
And so, when we look at Paul’s list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it gives us an insight into what this should look like, this cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Now, a lot of it has to do with our minds. And Paul says this, right? He says to guard your hearts and minds in Christ, Jesus, Our Lord.
So, what do I think about? Is Christ the object of my thoughts perpetually? If my imagination is filled with something less, it’s going to be difficult to produce the fruit. If I’m consumed with news rather than Christ, well, I can become a mad-trad. If I’m consumed with myself, and I mope, then I can become a sad-trad. If I’m consumed with Christ, then a glad-trad, because one’s imagination, one’s heart, one’s mind is wrapped up in the Savior; the Solution. We can easily justify anger when we consider problems that others make or sorrow when we consider the ones that we ourselves have made. And all of that is part of a piece, but it ought not consume us. Christ is the one who ought to be consuming us. And so, there can be an admixture of joy and sorrow, joy and anger.
Look at the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette. She was weeping. Why was she weeping? Because of sinful humanity. And yet she beheld and continues to behold the Beatific Vision perfectly. So, what’s going on here? Is this schizophrenia? No. This is the difference between intrinsic joy that comes from considering God in Himself that brings about joy, and the extrinsic sorrow of considering those things that offend Him.
And so, this joy that Paul is talking about is the result of considering God in Himself. When we consider our own participation in His life, there’s a myriad of things that go on in our hearts: the joy of His mercy, the wonder at His justice, the sorrow at our own lack of correspondence with His will, and the awareness that I need to make reparation. But even this, the reparation itself, brings about a certain joy because it’s good and it helps me to be more and more consumed with Our Lord.
And so, somebody who is suffering grief over the loss of a loved one, somebody who has lost his job, somebody who’s not sure about his financial situation, still has to heed this command of St. Paul to rejoice because those things are extrinsic and they ought not eclipse this one all-consuming consideration of who Our Lord is.
And so, the intrinsic joy that Paul is speaking about is not on the surface. It’s not something superficial. It’s supposed to be our entirety. And within it, there are these extrinsic others of challenges, trials, sorrows, and anger, and all of these other things that make up our human existence.
As the object of our desire and the cause of our joy approaches, the fruits of the Holy Spirit should increase and instill in us an ever-greater vigilance during this final period of preparation for the Birth of Christ. And so, better prepare us for His final coming at the End of Time. Rejoice always.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Ghost. Amen.
~Fr. Ermatinger