A Gift of Joy

By Milica Yaksich

"And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light" (Matt. 17:2).

  It is the time of our Savior’s birth, a time for rejoicing and a time to consider how we can make ourselves more worthy of such a great gift! Our Lord was born in a cave that was used as a stable for animals. Imagine, a king born in such a lowly place, not a palace or a great house, but a stable! He came to us in humility because He wanted us to understand that humility and meekness will speed us into the grace of His salvation and the eternal joy of heaven, but pride and love of wealth and the material pleasures of this world will surely damn us. We have much to learn from the example of our Lord. We have all been prideful at times. We know that we are being prideful when the opinions of others matter to us, when we are easily offended and angered and when we are being selfish and so self-absorbed that we are unaware and unconcerned with the feelings or condition of others except when it impacts on us. We also know that we are being prideful when we expect credit for everything we do and any kindness, good deed and gift must be quickly followed by an acknowledgement and gratitude. We are forgetting that when we are rewarded in this world we are foregoing any reward we might have been entitled to in heaven. Pride so often defeats us and is a great source of pain and dissention among families and friends. I have known people who have not communicated in years because they are too proud to forgive one another or admit fault. I have seen people cut themselves off from people, places, and activities they love and enjoy because of pride. It makes no sense to me. God wants us to be happy. We cannot ever blame God if we are unhappy for we create our own grief. "God created man in His own image, in the image of God". (Gen.1:27) God gave man "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth". (Gen. 1:26) Man had a beautiful and bountiful paradise to live in and he could have lived there and multiplied and ruled the earth in peace and joy forever had he not been disobedient, and had he not tried to hide that disobedience by blaming another. (Adam blamed Eve who in turn blamed the serpent). After being cast out of the Garden of Eden, man sinned more and with every sin, and with every disobedience he created a greater separation between himself and God until he could no longer hear God’s voice. God spoke only to those who were worthy and who were chosen for some special purpose. These chosen few passed the word of God on to others and in time, God’s word was written so that all may know God and His commandments. For a long time man knew God as the word but many did not heed the word. They did not listen or believe. Then, God gave us a great gift when our Lord Jesus Christ was born. He came to us in the flesh, the Incarnation of the Word, so that we might look at the face of God and learn from Him, from His example as a man who lived and died for us that we may live. As a man, He did not put Himself above the Law even though He was the Son of God and was equally God and man. When He went to John the Baptist to be baptized and John said, no, "I have need to be baptized of thee", our Lord insisted that John baptize Him saying, "Suffer it to be so now", because He wanted to fulfill the law (Matt. 3:14,15). Later at the Sermon on the Mount He reaffirmed this saying, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill". (Matt. 5:17) Our Lord wanted us to see and understand that He would not ask anything more of us than He would of Himself. For one to practice obedience there must be humility. A soul full of pride is incapable of submitting itself in true obedience, incapable of unselfish love and sacrifice, and ultimately incapable of faith in anything or anyone other than itself. This is how Lucifer came to be cast out of heaven. It is how Adam and Eve came to be cast out of the Garden of Eden. It is how so many fall and so few are chosen.

  It does not have to be this way. God gave us the ability to choose and He gave us the law, His commandments, to guide us and He even gave us an example of what man in his most perfect state can be: in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. God made us in His image and wants us to strive to be like Him so that we can exist in ultimate joy and peace.

  Truly there is great joy in a heart that is pure and a mind that is clear and a soul that is devout and full of love for God. God is perfect love and those who love God love all that God has created. There is no room for hatred, anger or pride in a soul who loves God. Love and hate, just like sin and virtue do not tolerate one another. They cannot co-exist. There is only one thing in this world that we may hate and that is evil or sin, but though we hate the sin, we must not hate the sinner for he/she is God’s creation and only God can judge a human soul. In the light of true faith, there is the belief that God will right every wrong, if not in this world then in the next. This inspires peace and contentment, knowing that we do not have to be torn apart by injustice. There are times when we can and must act in the name of justice, but when something is beyond our power to right, we can be consoled by faith. It is through faith that one is graced with the peace of mind that God will take care of everything and the humility to accept what is not within our power to change.

  God granted each of us freedom to choose our own path. Because freedom is a gift from God we must cherish it and use it wisely, and we must respect the freedom of others to make their own choices. It is our duty to try to help one another and tell someone if they are making a mistake. This should be done in the spirit of brotherly / sisterly love, not judgment, and certainly not false piety. Beforehand one needs to look into one’s own heart to be certain that this intervention is purely in the interests of the other and that the advice is good, clearly based on scripture, and delivered sincerely with kindness. We cannot condone or in the interests of being politically correct appear to support something that is a sin. We must be clear in our position, or we are as guilty as if we committed the sin ourselves. However, it is still their choice and we cannot and must not ever think that we have the right to force anything on anyone. Parents have a duty to guide their children and make decisions for them until they reach maturity, but these should always be rooted in faith and love and the teachings of our Lord. When man’s laws go against the laws of God then it is our duty to do what we can, in a lawful way, to change them. We are all sinners. We have all made mistakes and hopefully learned from them. The one thing we should have all learned by now is that sin never leads to true and lasting joy. That kind of "happiness" quickly evaporates and turns sour.

  St. Luke tells us how an angel of the Lord announced to shepherds at the time of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" and later with a heavenly host, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men". God’s message to us is and always has been a joyous one, full of love and the deep desire that all humanity share God’s joy, peace and love. Our Lord’s two great commandments: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself - give us everything we need to make the right choices in life. At the end of chapter 25 in the book of St. Matthew our Lord explains how when He returns in His glory and all are gathered before Him, He will separate them to His right and to His left. To those on the right He will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was hungry and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me." The righteous answer Him, when was this, that we saw you like this and did these things? "The King shall answer them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." He then goes on to explain that the converse is also true and that those who did not help and give to those in need essentially denied the Lord at the same time and that they would be cursed into everlasting fire along with the devil and his angels. God gave us a very simple rule, or if you prefer to consider it "a measuring tool", by which to know if we are pleasing to God. God created man in His image and when we give to someone, help him or her, or show love or kindness it is the same as if we did it to God. On the other hand when we deny someone something, refuse to help, or are cruel and hurtful it is the same as if we did these things to God. The same is true of our selves. When we help others we help our selves, when we hurt others we also hurt our selves, and whatever we do for or against our selves, we do the same for or against God. Now, you can understand why I say that we cannot blame God for misfortune or grief, that we create our own grief. Let us instead find the joy that is readily available to us through God and His abundant love and mercy. There is certainly adversity in this life, but it testifies to our strength, and teaches us what we could not learn from an easier path. With the right spirit there can even be joy in adversity. Our Lord taught us that when He sacrificed Himself for our sake. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!