More Joy! Rejoice and Be Responsible!

At first glance, the title looks like a line from a beer commercial, but if you bear with me, you'll find out I'm not talking about beer commercials.

Today's 2nd reading is TRULY AMAZING!

"Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it." Thess 5:16-24

The joy St. Paul speaks of is joy in JESUS CHRIST! Christ is always with us; therefore, we always have a reason to be joyful, no matter what the circumstances.

Until I had read a reflection on this passage, the words "do not despise prophesying" puzzled me. They didn't seem to fit with everything else. St. Cyril of Alexandria explains it beautifully. St. Paul calls us to not only be open the interior work of the Holy Spirit, such as His gifts and fruits, but also to the external manifestations of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecy. At the same time St. Paul echoes Christ's warning that there will be false prophets. By listening to the Spirit of God speaking to us, and most importantly through the Church, we will be able to test these prophecies and separate the good from the bad.

I find the most striking words to be the last sentence of this passage, "He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it." Our Lord will call us; He is faithful, and He will not forget. As a Catholic - and specifically as a Jesus Youth - where-ever and whenever God calls me I need to bring Him with me. I need to be at God's service at all times. If I do not listen to His call then there might be a person in this world who never experiences the joy of Jesus Christ because I failed to share it with them.

In Father Kenneth LeBlanc's homily today, he said that Christ cannot be the only one who gifts at Christmas, we also need to bring gifts to Christmas. God is faithful to us and calls us to Him. Do we give Him the gift of our faithfulness and respond to His call?

To wrap-up before this post becomes more ramble-y... We rejoice because we have Christ, and we need to be responsible, in the sense that we follow to our Lord's call and share it with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"REJOICE... AGAIN, I SAY REJOICE" Phil. 4:4