The Third Sunday of Advent and we are celebrating with the opening
words of Paul’s Letter, “Rejoice. Rejoice and be glad because the
kingdom of God is at hand.” And we are people of joy and of rejoicing
in gladness. And on this Sunday, we light which candle on the
wreath? ... No. Not the third, the pink one! Purple represents
kingship and pink has traditionally represented joy and happiness.

Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to
her mother, “Why is the bride dressed in white?” The mother turned to
her and said, “It’s because white is for happiness and it’s the
happiest day of your life when you get married.” And then the girl
pondered for a moment and said, “But then, why is the groom wearing
black?”

An elderly woman died last month and having not married, she
requested that there be no male pall bearers. In her hand-written
instructions for her memorial Mass, she said, “They didn’t take me
out when I was alive. So they won’t take me out when I’m dead.”

Two boys were walking home from Sunday School, and, after hearing a
very strong homily on the devil from Father Brian Joyce (That’ll
never happen!), one said to the other,”Well, what do you think of all
this devil stuff... this satan stuff?” And the other boy replied,
“Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out? It’s probably Dad!”

And here’s one. Several times a week, I go (There’s a bunch of folks
who go after the 8 o’clock Mass and they hang out at the Donut
King.) .... So, I go with them there sometimes, and one of them is
blond. Well, she used to be blond, but she’s still blond. And she
gave me this joke.... A blonde goes to the post office to buy stamps
for her Christmas cards, and she says to the clerk, “May I have fifty
Christmas stamps?” And the clerk says, “What denomination?” And she
says, “Oh, my Lord! Has it come to this? ....Six Catholics, twelve
Presbyterians, ten Lutherans and twenty-two Baptists.” And I was
standing in the line for forty-five minutes at the Post Office
yesterday, and it definitely wasn’t a joke!

Henry Nouwen says that “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to
choose joy, and keep choosing it every day of our lives.” Abraham
Lincoln said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make their
minds up to be.” I think there are lots of quotes you could find to
support the premise that we can choose joy. We are people of joy. We
are brought into this world in love and we are expected to live
joyful lives. Paul was in prison writing to his favorite community.
He was telling them they needed to be joyful, always joyful! And in
the Gospel, we hear three different sets of people, the people
themselves in the crowd, the tax collectors and the soldiers all
asking “What should we do?” And I think the question for us is “What
is our joy? What is my bliss? What is it that I rejoice in?”

Think for a moment, what is the first thing that comes into your
mind? You don’t have to tell me this. But what is the first thing
that comes into your mind when you think of a joyful moment?

Several weeks ago, I placed an ad in the parish bulletin requesting
real stories of joy. Since then, I have received many e-mails/
letters/ notes on this subject. I won’t be able to mention all of it.
What struck me most about all of it was there was nothing about
money. There was nothing about success. There was nothing about all
the trappings of this world. What everybody sent in, bar none, were
stories of love, stories of joy, stories of relationships. I
particularly think of one lady who, when she and her husband got
married, they were fully expecting to have a family. And, after a few
years of their love, that just didn’t happen. But eventually, they
had to seek beyond prayer. They sought other means, through the
scientific, medical world. And on the day that they were told that
they were pregnant, those words just evoked incredible joy! And think
of the joy, and all of you moms and dads can know that first child or
that child when it is born and you bring that child into the world
and it’s in your arms, there is just incredible joy. It talks about
the possibility of happiness and what this life is going to bring.
Doesn’t it?

There is another woman this morning told me, after the eight o’clock
Mass, that she had gotten married in a civil marriage, but she was
Catholic and she wanted her husband to be Catholic. But he hadn’t
gotten an annulment, so they had to have a civil marriage. But her
joy, her expectation would always be, one day, when he got the
annulment, to have a Mass and to have her vows renewed in front of
the priest and the community. And so, when she came here to the
church, she had the sacrament of reconciliation and she came up to
the front of the church and she celebrated the gift of love that
always was very present. In that moment, the joy for her was incredible!

What’s your joy? Mine was my ordination day, but I also think of the
day that my dad took me to teach me how to cycle and he held onto the
back of the bicycle. You know that moment where you think you can go
on your own? And then you go flying... Isn’t it great joy, the
simplicity of the ordinariness of life? I think of many different
other stories of joy and I know there is probably something rattling
around in your heads about joy. I think of the story that was told
about the father who had a nine-year-old who had a debilitating
disease and wasn’t expected to live too long. But he was a little
mobility-impaired and they were walking through the park. And as they
walked through the park, they saw a bunch of kids, Little Leaguers,
having a game. The little guy just looked up with eyes like “I would
love to play in that game.” But he had never been able to do that.
And so, the father just looked at him with love and walked over to
the captain of the team that was losing and he said, “Would you let
my son play, just hit the ball once?” And so, the guy says, “Oh,
yeah, whatever. We’re losing anyway. So it won’t make any
difference.” So, the little guy gets to put on his shirt and, when he
goes up to bat, his eyes are just shining that he has just been able
to play in the game. And so, the other guy who is about to pitch
realizes what the story is. And he gives him a nice little pitch, you
know, a little soft one. And, as he does that, the little guy misses.
Jimmy misses. And the second time he misses. And then, the third
time, he just tries to throw it as gently as possible. The little
guy, Jimmy, hits it as hard as he can and it goes flying down the
center of the field on the ground. And all the other kids just let it
go by, and everybody is shouting, “Run, Jimmy, to first base.” By
this time, all the people in the stands that are watching, “Run,
Jimmy, to second, and to third!” And, by the time that Jimmy gets to
home plate, the entire crowd is on their feet, delighted that Jimmy
made one track all the way around. And his dad is just absolutely
overjoyed for this experience. His son got to play. A month or two
later, Jimmy went home to God. But his dad remembered those kids and
that joy on that day.

We are all called to be people of joy, people of happiness. We look
at that in our own lives and we have to ask the question, “What do we
need to do to be joyful?” As we come and listen to the Word, as we
come and celebrate the gift of joy that is on this altar, Christ,
then we take this gift out into the world and we be joyful and be
people of joy. And I am going to make you all be very joyful right
now! So, would my helpers please come up? Take up your banners and go
to your places. You see in your bulletin the red papers. Now, this
was the English, in the sixteenth century, way of communicating the
catechism under the noses of the Protestants because Catholicism was
outlawed, The Twelve Days of Christmas. You can read this at home for
yourself. I want you to participate, full active participation. So,
here’s what we are going to do....

Everyone present, divided into twelve groups, joins together to sing
“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” in joyful unison! On the first day
of Christmas, my true love sent to me....