Third Sunday in Advent

Advent draws more to a close and we pause in the midst of meditation and preparation to consider the joy we have in Christ. Even when circumstances seem to tell otherwise, true joy is ours in Christ. The circumstances of the birth of Christ weren’t ideal but the joy was all the more clearly seen. The condition we are in in awaiting His glorious Return on the Last Day seems to call for something other than joy. Perhaps questions or doubt. But the joy we have in Him is found not simply in the promise of His Return but in His actual coming to us in the Gospel that is proclaimed and the waters that were poured over us in Baptism and the partaking of His body and blood in His Holy Meal. Having true joy doesn’t discount circumstances, it simply shines through in the midst of them.