The Christmas season brings us much joy. This joy comes especially through the celebration of the true reason for Christmas: the coming of Christ as Messiah, to free us from our sins.
Leading up to Christmas we heard a lot in the Gospels about John the Baptist, whose mission it was to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. John rejoiced and was filled with joy when he first experienced Christ in person. Their first encounter was before they were both born. John in Elizebath’s womb, and Jesus still in Mary’s, met for the first time when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth. Upon hearing the coming of Mary, the infant John leaped with joy in his mother’s womb! The Catechism of the Catholic Church talks about John’s joy. It says, “He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother’s womb welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being “the friend of the bridegroom,” whom he points out as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (CCC. 523) John’s joy comes from being a friend of the bridegroom who is the sacrificial Lamb of God who will free people from their sin.
We share that same joy at this time of year and throughout the whole of our lives. We receive God’s lasting joy, not just the worldly emotion of happiness, but true lasting joy, through friendship with Christ. It is in being Christ’s friend and follower in this life that we will have lasting joy throughout the many different circumstances of our lives. Whether we experience the emotions of happiness, sadness or fear and anxiety, the joy that comes from friendship with Christ is our lasting foundation of joy.
We are Christ’s friends by knowing loving and serving Him in this life. In other words, by striving with all our might to be holy in this life, in order to be with Him in the next.
The Blessed virgin Mary is our greatest helper in this pursuit of holiness. This is why it is very important to have a devotion to Mary, asking for her help to love her Son more; “to Jesus through Mary.” That is what she truly desires for each of us, to be close to her Son. Mary is our model and helper in our effort of being a friend of Christ. This is the reason Catholics have loved Mary since the very beginnings of the Church. The disciples and Apostles themselves loved Mary and were devoted to her, we should be as well. Mary’s will, because she was spared from any sin and filled with God’s grace, is so closely aligned with God’s will that she always desires what God does. As God desires our friendship so too does Mary desire with all her heart that we be friends with Christ and receive true, deep, and lasting joy.
Fr. Jacquemin
