Today we celebrate Gaudete Sunday or Joy Sunday. It means that Christmas is right around the corner, and we will soon begin the solemn Christmas Novena. In order to truly celebrate the Joy of this Sunday we need to know the reason for the Joy, and I think that the two questions posed to St. John the Baptist in today’s Gospel give us a clue.
First, the people ask St. John the Baptist, “Who are you?” It seems like a reasonable question; who is this person that large crowds of people are going out into the desert to see? They aren’t asking the basic question who is John. They could easily find out that his name is John, and he is the son of Zachariah the priest and Elizabeth. In fact, people in the hill country have been talking about John for years, because his birth was something of a miracle since his parents were so old.
No, when they ask John, “Who are you?” they are asking to know who he is at a deeper level. God has the answer: John is the one that He wanted John to be. This is true for each of us. God says to each of us, “You are this person who is a unique thought of mine, never again to be duplicated, never again to be thought.” That is a mind-blowing truth. Each of us are unique thoughts of God, and He thought that each of us are worth redeeming.
We cannot undo God’s work. We cannot unbaptize ourselves. However, we can obstruct the unfolding our our creation. We can render inactive the graces of our baptism. If we do that, we will not know joy. St. John the Baptist is a joyful person because he allowed God’s grace to completely unfold in his life so that he could become the person God created him to be.
The people also ask John, “What do you have to say about yourself?” John gives them the answer that God gave him, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
John’s answer should also be ours. We should be voices crying out; maybe not in the desert, but in office, in the market, on the sidelines of sports fields. In a world dominated by violence, greed, and selfishness, we should be all be voices of peace, patience, and generosity.
If we allow ourselves to become the person God created us to be, to fully become the unique thought of God, and then to be His witness, His voice, in the world we will know the Joy of this Sunday always.