Daily Reflection Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

We probably all have heard about Christmas-in-July sales events at the local mall, but how about Christmas in early May? These blossoming spring days find us still solidly in Eastertide -- still in the palpable joy of the Resurrection, pre-Ascension. We have the luxury of seeing with a new lens the promises Jesus is making to his disciples in these five Gospel-of-John "Last Supper chapters" -- promises that we know have been fulfilled beyond our power to imagine. We hear these promises of joy claimed now by Christ in his redeemed and glorified body. In our short but so pithy Gospel today, Jesus is reframing the incarnational Joy to the World we celebrate at Christmas in its new packaging -- the joy of abiding in the intimacy of Vine and Branch, the joy of abiding in a deep and holy friendship (we will hear more in the Gospel tomorrow), and the joy that not even death can put asunder.

Joy... one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the grace of freely taking delight in a God who takes delight in us. Joy... a profound, deep, unshakable, permanent presence, so much wider and deeper than the fleeting pleasures and happiness offered by the world. Joy... being loved by a God of all circumstances. Doris Donnelly uses the metaphor of a purring car engine, unperturbed by bad weather. Joy, she writes, is an inward satisfaction and outward benediction.

Jesus will go on in the next chapter in John to answer the disciples' befuddled grappling with heavenly questions. What does Jesus mean, they ask. -- 'I go to prepare a place for you.' Heaven, he assures them with great tenderness, will be a place where I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. What a Christmas present!

Here's to singing a rousing chorus or two today of Joy to the World. Let the carol begin.

 The Visitation

Elizabeth jumped up and threw out her arms

just as you would

when your best friend gets off the plane

or you know your spouse will recover

or you see your daughter in her wedding dress

or your little boy holds up the trophy

or when the final moment comes

and you see The Light

you, balanced on the fingertip of God

toes to the stars

hands open to the infinite, spinning with giddy joy.  

                           ~Frank Desiderio, CSP