what gives me joy? aguinaldo mass December 21, 2011

I have a child. His name is Lorenzo Esperancilla. Now since I got your attention I would like to tell you that since I cannot bear a child, because obviously I do not have a womb, my only experience of a child leaping for joy was when I was carrying Lorenzo Esperancilla one day. While we were moving happily along we saw a butterfly, and immediately his gaze was transfixed at the butterfly jumping from one flower to the other. With him on my arms we ran after it trying to catch it. When the butterfly alighted on a flower we slowly sneaked behind it, and Lorenzo would reach out his arms to attempt to hold it. But every time his hand was just a few inches away, the butterfly would fly away. This would then excite him so much his whole body would quiver as he made some kind of a quick jump and squeal in excitement and joy. It seemed that every part of his body moved, then, a swift kick would follow. This happened three times and that joy was just so infectious even to me, an adult. He quivered, he jumped and made a joyful squealing sound. This is the only, and I believe, the nearest thing I had in experiencing a jumping child in the womb, this time however, on my arms.
O my God, by the looks on your faces you seem to be pressing the question who is Lorenzo Esperancilla. Let me just assure you that Lorenzo has no middle name in paper and in fact. The law simply requires that I give him my name in the absence of one for the time being. Now does that satisfy you? Suspicious minds indeed.


But going back to the gospel, a gospel I would call the meeting of the zygote and the foetus, and not just the visitation or the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. The foetus, who was the future John the Baptist sensed a presence. The foetus sensed something. And as if on cue the presence made him quiver to the point that he jumped for joy. St. John Chrysostom comments on this scene of the Gospel saying, "See how new and how wonderful this mystery is. John the Baptist has not yet left the womb but he already speaks by leaping; he is not yet allowed to cry out but now he makes himself heard by his actions ; he has not yet seen the light but he already points out the Sun; he has not yet been born and he is already keen to act as Precursor. The Lord is present, so John cannot contain himself or wait for nature to run its course: he wants to break out of the prison of his mother's womb.” Beautifully described by St. John Chrysostom - this meeting of the zygote and the foetus.
John the Baptist cannot contain himself. He leapt for joy.
Sometimes we equate joy only with the comic - we laugh at the antics of Vice Ganda, or Willie, we enjoy the theatrics of a circus act, we laugh at comedy, we get excited with a computer game, we even enjoy talking about another person, or we even prefer priests who will amuse us in their homilies. Is this the only kind of joy we know, is this the only kind of joy we want to experience?
Sometimes we equate joy only with the nice - nice dress, nice brand, nice gadgets, nice food, nice music, nice house, nice grade, nice work, nice car - so everything is nice, so you must be happy. So are you happy? Of course you are, you must be. I will be happy too if I have a nice and comfortable home, I will be happy especially if I can eat nice food. Who won’t? I am not saying that we do away with these sources of happiness in our life, otherwise I will be a kill joy. My point is let us not limit our happiness to only these. There is another source, another source deep within that can make us happy and fulfilled even if we have less of what I mentioned above.
Today John the Baptist is showing us the cause of his happiness. He jumped for joy because for the first time he met not just Jesus, not just Mary but he met the purpose of his life, for the first time he met the meaning of his life. Jesus was the reason why John came to be. John after all was the precursor of Jesus, he will prepare the way for Jesus. For the first time John felt so at home because he was in the very presence of his meaning, his purpose.
You must have heard of an advertisement on TV and perhaps it might be good to ask the same question to ourselves, para kanino ka bumabangon? For what and for whom are you waking up each and every morning. What is motivating you to move on? Who is making you do what you do? For what? Have you ever asked yourself these questions? For what, for whom? This I believe is a real source of happiness - a sense of purpose, a meaning to live by.
Today on this sixth day of the aguinaldo let us ask ourselves what makes me happy, what gives me joy. Am I happy in my work? Am I happy at home? Does my joy today come from that wellspring of knowing the reason why I exist, why am I here, what am I for, for whom and for what? Am I happy because I know and it is clear to me kung para kanino ako bumabangon?
Today in the gospel of the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, John came to know his reason and purpose and with this he leapt for joy. May our encounter with the Lord in Christmas give us also the same joy of knowing our purpose and reason in life.