“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” Paul, in one of my all time favorite chapters in the entire Bible is being quite the life coach! He certainly needed to be. The ancient Church in Philippi was experiencing difficulties, their leader a bishop named Epaphroditus, was very ill and Paul himself was about to stand trial in Rome. You can transport any of “the heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” (Hamlet, 3.1) onto this reading and its call is still the same, whether in twenty-first century Bergen County or ancient Greece, Paul is telling us over and over again: Rejoice!
Rejoice?! In these times? In this season of gun violence, religious extremism and vitriolic politics? How is that possible? Is this Paul’s way of saying that we should ignore life’s difficulties or “just hang tough?” If that is the case, then what is the point of reading it. I think if we explore deeper into the reading, the very next verse is Philippians 4:8, my favorite verse from the epistles (in fact it’ll be in my wedding!). Here Paul may be instructing us how to view the hurting world and see indeed, there is much to rejoice.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Whatever is true, whatever is just, Paul’s radical equality cannot be over emphasized. Paul doesn’t say whatever is Catholic, whatever is Christian, whatever is American, or whatever is easy. We must take this challenge to rejoice seriously, we must look for the good in all things no matter how difficult.
In the face of war, let us not despair, but think of the brave men and women defending our country in foreign lands and rejoice! Those praying and working to end gun violence on the streets of Chicago. Rejoice! Those who care for the dying. Rejoice! Those who stand up to xenophobic aggression towards immigrants. Rejoice! Those heeding the Holy Father’s call to protect the planet. Rejoice! For those defending life from conception to natural death. Rejoice!
If we find it hard to rejoice, that makes us human. If we cannot rejoice because a political or personal ideology is stopping us from seeing the goodness in all things, then Paul’s challenge to the Philippians is a challenge to us. Let us bury that into the heart of the altar this Advent season, and leave it at the foot of the manger. I shall say it again: Rejoice! Have a blessed week.
I’ll be seeing you,
Elliot Guerra