CREATING SPACE FOR JOY
“Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.” – Is. 12:6
One of my dear friends got married during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many saw 2020 as a year of hardship, she called it the best year of her life because she married her best friend. But their joy was quickly overshadowed by immense loss: they mourned the deaths of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and unborn children through miscarriages. Their hopes of starting a family through foster care were derailed when she was diagnosed with cancer. Now, as chemo treatments take a toll on her body, mind, and spirit, I can’t help but see her and her husband as modern-day Job figures — faithful amid relentless suffering.
I feel her pain and grief as I interact with her. However, in an unexplainable way, I also experience joy in her presence.
When many of us think of John the Baptist, joy isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. We imagine an austere prophet in camel-hair clothes, eating locusts, preaching repentance. Yet, today’s readings invite us to see John differently as someone who points to joy.
Every reading calls us to rejoice. Zephaniah declares, “The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst … He will renew you in His love.” The Psalm echoes more clearly: “Cry out with joy and gladness, for among you is the Holy One of Israel.” St. Paul reminds us that Jesus is the Holy One of Isreal – God’s love in the flesh – the source of our joy.
Christian joy is not surface happiness tied to favorable circumstances or what we want. It’s deeper. It’s about being close to someone we love. Think of when you see a loved one and their presence alone fills your heart with joy.
In today’s Gospel, crowds flock to John the Baptist. If John were all fire and brimstone, would people seek him out? Instead, John exudes a joy rooted in his closeness to Jesus. When people ask him three times, “What should we do?” his answer is both simple and powerful:
Open your closet – share your extra coat.
Open your pantry – fast a little and give.
Open your heart – act with fairness, honesty, and justice.
John’s message of repentance involves more than just outward action. It is this: Open your heart to the One who is coming. Make space for Jesus, whose presence brings lasting joy. John redirects people’s focus away from himself: “I am not the Messiah.” He wakes us up to the reality that God longs to come closer—to renew, heal, and transform us.
Thus, John is a figure who gives witness to joy. So is my friend (and her husband). She would disagree and say that trials and tribulations are more her constant companions than joy. Yet, when I share my admiration for her faith, courage, and strength while carrying profound challenges, she smiles and replies, “I’m glad someone sees it that way.”
This Advent, my friend reminds me of John the Baptist—a figure of creating space for joy. Like John, her closeness to Jesus invites me to make room for grace: for God to be God, for others to be seen, and for me to be my authentic self before the Lord. Though Jesus’ nearness often seems hidden from her, I sense his joy-instilling presence.
Henri Nouwen once wrote: “A waiting person is a patient person. Patience means staying where we are and believing something hidden will manifest itself to us.” Advent is this kind of patient waiting—trusting that God will reveal Himself to us in the quiet spaces we create, even when we feel anxious, stressed, divided, or overwhelmed.
Friends, join me to open your closet, your pantry, and your heart to greater trust and kindness. In doing so, we risk discovering anew God’s goodness, healing, and joy.
How are you invited to make space for the One who can surprise you with joy?