Today's Mass is suffused with joy. It is sometimes called 'Gaudete' Sunday from the first word of the entrance antiphon in Latin: Gaudete, Rejoice! The words 'joy' and 'rejoice' keep occurring. And with good reason. We are a little more than a week away from celebrating the birth of Jesus and the Kingdom of God which He will inaugurate in our world. A new way of life is being prepared for us, a wonderful way of life for us to live and one we are called on to invite others to share.

Joy should be the basic mood of the Christian. It should not be something artificial or forced but something that bubbles up naturally from our sharing Christ's vision of life. At times one gets the impression that it is not the experience of many Christians, who see their faith as a burden, telling them all the things they cannot do. There used to be a saying, "A sad saint is a sad kind of saint." A sad Christian is a contradiction in terms.

Christmas is a time of joy but let the rest of the year be the same for each one of us.