Deacon Tom Anthony

JOY IN OUR LIVES

We have entered into the Third Week of Advent. What a wonderful journey we have had together so far. The special moments we have shared with our family friends together in Jesus Christ must be emphasized above any of the pain or anxieties we might be feeling this season. For the negative is temporary while the good through God is eternal. In our fallen nature we tend to concentrate on the bad while ignoring the good. As Christians we must overcome this by bringing ourselves closer to God through our actions and state of mind. We need to train ourselves to embrace all that is good and beautiful while rejecting the negative. There is nothing that can be gained by dwelling on the challenges that we might be involved in when the only solution to these calamities is surrendering them over to God.

Good will always triumph over evil. We have to acknowledge this and trust completely in God who is our protector. This is why our Christian Community is so important. We are taught that no one should face adversity alone. It is only through unity and fraternity that we will triumph and be victorious. Through the Christian Family we can actually experience joy while encountering crisis. We can acknowledge the presence of crisis while not being overburdened by it. Jesus tells us in Mathew: “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” We need to take these words as comfort and a promise that whatever we face we will overcome it if we only have trust in God. If we truly believe this, and as Christians we must, then we should concentrate on the joy and wonderment that this life of ours entails.

Every moment that we spend with our family and friends must be a celebration of love and a celebration of God's creation. He has given us an opportunity to enjoy this life with him by simply being united with him. If we lose focus of this fact we are then in danger of being lost again. We cannot embrace sin and God at the same time. For God did not create sin. We did by our actions and choices. To overcome this propensity to sin and making the wrong choices we must make the choice to walk with God. If fact, instead of walking to and with God we should be running to him!

Take a moment to contemplate. What can we be truly thankful and joyous about in our lives. Dismiss all of the bad and ugly things that we feel define ourselves and just concentrate on the good however small we may feel it to be. We can then take that small joy and expand it to make it a greater presence in our lives rather than making the evil things greater than they are. We must understand that evil is never greater than good. Evil never triumphs over good only if we permit it to do so. We do indeed have that much control over our lives as long as we acknowledge the ultimate good who is God. Dismiss Satan and invoke the name of Christ our Savior any time we are in danger of losing focus of this fact.

Through Isaiah God told us:

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.

From nothingness and desolation beauty and life will come forth. Even though at times we may be completely lost and forsaken God will bring forth joy and love from us as long as we take the time to nurture the seeds of goodness that are within us and let them grow. We are all good because God created us. We cannot be embarrassed or reject the notion that we are loved and can express that same love that Jesus Christ has for us. All that we have, all that we are, and all that we can do can be recognized through Jesus Christ.

Deacon Tom