“We want to see Christians manifest joy in their faith.”
AS many of you know, I spent five years working in seminary to train future priests. A big part of my job, which I enjoyed most, was visiting and evaluating seminarians on their year of supervised parish internship.
In my visits to our seminarian-interns, I didn’t only look for zeal, compassion, holiness, and maturity in our candidates for the priesthood. I also looked for a joyful spirit.
Do they manifest genuine joy to serve God and his people? Is this joy coming from a pure heart that is free from the obsession with self-glory or positions? Do they see celibacy as a gift that would allow them to serve God’s people freely and joyfully?
I would always remind myself of Pope Francis’ advice to seminarians, priests, and novices about the need for a joyful spirit in their vocation.
He said, “When one comes across a seminarian, a priest, a nun, a novice, with a long sad face, who seems as though a very wet covering has been thrown over his/her life, a heavy covering that pulls them down…something is wrong! But please let us never have nuns, never have priests with the face of a ‘pepper in vinegar,” never.”
Joy. It’s one of the marks of a true disciple. It should be an essential characteristic of every Christian. We want to see Christians manifest joy in their faith. For, indeed, as Christians, we believe that we have encountered the “pearl of great price”—Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Saviour!
It’s what Advent and Christmas are all about: it’s having and sharing the joy of receiving the greatest gift of God in our lives—his Son, Jesus.
This third Sunday of Advent, which is called Gaudete Sunday, let’s manifest this real joy. Let this joy come from within our hearts for the gift of faith and for being called to serve!
Blessings to all!
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Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, California.
