Twenty-eight years ago today, overflowing with the joy which had infused my entire being, I made my First Vows as a Religious of the Sacred Heart. Caught up in the excitement and the preparations, I had somehow lost sight of the fact that the following day the Church would celebrate Gaudete Sunday. Imagine my surprise, the next day, when I found joy resounding throughout the liturgy! - my own, personal rejoicing flowing into this universal joy and celebration of the God who is not only near, but already among us.
Every year I celebrate my anniversary with a quiet joy mingled with gratitude and wonder. Wonder at the astonishing mystery of God's choice and call, and transforming life within me; gratitude at his unswerving fidelity, great patience and copious grace. Some years, my thoughts are also inspired by St John of the Cross, whose feast-day is today, but every year my anniversary falls somewhere within a week of Gaudete Sunday. This year it is the day before, just as it was 28 years ago. I am no longer surprised by this Sunday; instead, because of that memory, the universal, liturgical call to rejoice and exult has become part of my own quiet celebration.
The Lord your God is in your midst...
He will exult with joy over you,
he will renew you by his love...
(Zephaniah 3)
The God who loved me into life renewed me by his love through baptism, and then again, 28 years ago... and countless times before and since. And this God, who calls me to give love for Love, joy for his deep joy, is in our midst... Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us, eternally present in the heart of our world, and of each one of us. And herein lies the delight and the grace of my call - to make this renewing, rejoicing, ever-present Love known, wherever and however I might be. Please pray with and for me, that I may always respond to this call, and to God's constant renewing.
And you; how do you know God's joy and renewing love in your life...?
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