Third Wednesday of Advent
Reflection: Wednesday, Day 18 of Advent
I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:8-11
The third week of Advent is themed around joy. In some ways, it seems fitting that for such a week we would contemplate the Psalms, which are, after all, used in worship. As we saw on Monday, however, not all of these prophecies seem joyful, especially when they prophesy the suffering the Christ would have to endure on earth—suffering his followers, present, past, and future, have always shared with him.
Whether they are Psalms of celebration or lament, the Psalms that foretell Christ are not only about his first coming, but about his second coming and about the way his Holy Spirit comes into the hearts of believers and illumines them now, even in the uncertain and incomplete present. Psalm 16 refers at once to the resurrection of Jesus, the general resurrection of all believers at Jesus’ second coming, and the type of communion with God through Christ that is our inheritance, even today, even at this moment.
Psalm 16 is worth memorizing and meditating on in full. It is one of the first verses in the Bible that prophesies the Resurrection, which by Jesus’ time is a well-established doctrine among many (though not all) Jews. St. Peter also uses it in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, to explain Jesus’ own early Resurrection:
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection for the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”
Peter is right to point out that in its most literal sense the second half of verse 10, “nor will you let your holy one see corruption,” is not true of King David. Nevertheless, it is through Christ, who did not undergo corruption, that we will all be redeemed from physical corruption at the end of time—and not only physical corruption.
“Our hearts can be glad, our whole beings can rejoice, can rest secure, even when we are grieved (as Jesus and David were) by the things around us that we do not yet see subjected to Christ. “
The corruption of our souls and selves, and the ruination of our world brought about by the curse that entered it and us through our disobedience, is being undone through the working of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of Christ’s Church—even as Christ’s victory over death remakes all things. To say so sounds hopelessly naïve, of course. We will likely not find confirmation of this goodspell, this evangelium, in the news (set always before us through mass-produced palantiri). But it is true nonetheless, and if we ask, God will give us the grace to joyfully bring this good news to bear on each situation we actually find ourselves in (rather than in the ones we merely anticipate).
We will rest secure without becoming complacent. We will grieve without becoming detached. And we will rejoice without being silly or callow, because the griefs and sorrows we actually are acquainted with will prepare and season our joy, making it at times stern and solemn, the way that Advent fasting ennobles and informs Christmas feasting.
Our hearts can be glad, our whole beings can rejoice, can rest secure, even when we are grieved (as Jesus and David were) by the things around us that we do not yet see subjected to Christ. But in our grief, we must not refuse joy or mistake cynicism for wisdom. That anti-joy voice deep in our minds, that Malvolio-like pooper of parties, need not be heeded, and may even need to be rebuked or mocked. We cannot think that God has made fasting, or grief, or suffering, an end unto itself. Rather, it is a means by which we may know him more fully, partaking in the high-but-homely joy that overflows from the eternal festal dance between Father, Son, and Spirit. For—as David himself testifies— “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Advent
Activities
Instead of shopping or succumbing to some sort of addiction (I’m looking at you, iPhone…), do something that uniquely brings you joy: whether that’s listening to a beautiful song, going for a walk, baking some delicious bread or cookies, or many, many things.
- Focus on the joy and beauty from that moment. Try to choose something that won’t break your fast during Advent.
- Thank God for the small joys that are stitched into your daily rhythm. And seek those joys again tomorrow, always thanking the Source of all good things.
Taken from the daily office
Daily Prayer
O God of Joy, Emmanuel, send your light into our hearts at this time. Help us to be ready for the time of Christ’s appearing. Fix our hearts and our minds upon those things you have done and those you have promised to do—that we may have the joy you have promised. As we worship you, strengthen us so that we may always do your will and so bless you and the world you have made. Amen.
Amen.
Literature
From“On Fairy-Stories” by J.R.R. Tolkien
The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous ‘turn’ (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially ‘escapist,’ nor ‘fugitive.’ In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat in and so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.
It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher or more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the ‘turn’ comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality.
Song
Choir of the Queen’s College Oxford, “Gaudete, Christus est natus,”“
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