John the Baptist came into the world as a witness in order to give evidence of the light of Jesus so that everyone would come to faith and conversion. For this reason, he was aware of his smallness and the greatness of Jesus. With full awareness, he announced that he was only an instrument of God and collaborator of His Plan for humanity.

Therefore, the people who accompanied him were not confused. With all humility, he channeled all his energies, his desires in preparing the way of the Messiah. John became influential and popular figure. He gained followers through his preaching and way of life. By all means, he can be the center of attention and recognition. Nevertheless, he knew by heart that he was just an instrument of God and remained faithful to his mission until the end.

We are also invited to make way for Jesus. However, sometimes, we let ourselves be confused and forget that we are mere workers of God, arming ourselves with authority and power causing people to cling to us. We need to be aware that we are mere instruments of God. By following the example of John the Baptist, we must become instruments to others for Jesus to be known, welcomed, loved and adored.

Like him, we are called to work faithfully and fruitfully in the background so that Jesus will always have the spotlight.

Like St. John the Baptist, our motto should be, “Jesus must increase and we must decrease.”

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More than any time during the year, the month of December has been the perfect time to talk about joy. Because most of us look for joy especially during Advent and Christmas seasons. See, IT IS AS IF Christmas cannot be celebrated without partying; Christmas cannot be celebrated without having exchange gifts; Christmas is not Christmas without GIVING AND RECEIVING GIFTS.

But my dear brothers and sisters, have we ever noticed that after all these parties, after all these reunions, after the singing and dancing, we end up all tired as we begin to just look forward to the next party, then to the next party, until these parties almost become addictive. It becomes addictive because parties had not and will not give us the real joy our bodies and souls are craving for.

So, what is TRUE JOY this advent season? First and foremost, you cannot find joy. JOY HAS TO FIND US. We cannot pursue true joy. We cannot run after joy. Because if we run after joy, joy will run faster than us and we will not be able to reach joy. LET JOY COME TO US. This Advent season, FORGIVE, MAKE PEACE, RECONCILE, BE HUMBLE and live in the spirit of prayerful anticipation of the coming Jesus: let the JOY of Advent find us through these virtues//// So, do not forgive in order to get joy, do not reach out in order to get joy, do not give gifts in order to get joy. FORGIVE for the sake of forgiving the way our Father had forgiven our sins, RECONCILE for the sake of reconciliation, BE HUMBLE because you want to be humble like the Messiah who is to come, PRAY because you are THANKFUL for the gift of eternal life. That is HOW the joyful experience of Advent find us.

So how can the joyfulness of Advent find us? First, Joy cannot find us in extravagance. Second, Joy cannot find us in materialism. Third, Joy cannot find us in GREED and GLUTTONY. Hence, JOY comes to us in our nothingness. As we have seen in the NOTHINGNESS of the TOMB OF JESUS, we saw the JOY OF EASTER. In the nothingness of the WOMB OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, we SAW the JOY of CHRISTMAS. In the nothingness of the WOMB OF ELIZABETH, we saw the joy of the HANDS OF GOD CHANGING OUR SALVATION HISTORY. My dear brothers and sisters let our celebration of Gaudete Sunday make us realize that the ONE whom we are preparing our hearts for does not really care about what we are wearing, or what is in our wallets when He arrives. He does not even care how expensive the gifts we are handing out to our children, officemates, or friends. May we discover the beauty and power of FORGIVENESS, PEACE, HUMILITY and PRAYER, the four VIRTUES of nothingness this Advent season. So true Christmas joy will find us because it has a place in our lives. Jesus will find a place in our lives, the SOLE SOURCE of TRUE JOY.