Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy  Peter 1:8

Joy is a powerful emotion and whenever I have experienced it, I have always felt myself to be in the presence of God, on Holy ground. In my childhood I was provided with many opportunities to explore nature and I was taught that God was the creator of this power and beauty. Once while standing alone in a field along the edge of the St Lawrence River, I remember being overwhelmed by a powerful feeling like love beyond my ability to describe. I remember stopping and acknowledging that this was something special. This was time that God was sharing with me.
 
Many times since then God has blessed me with this joy, he has broken into a moment and left me awed by the fact that He loves me beyond my understanding or deserving. Standing at the altar the day I was married, lying in a hospital bed holding my newborn son, looking over the edge of a spectacular canyon, and even hanging clothes in my own backyard are all times when I felt what Peter calls "indescribable and glorious joy". This is what Paul refers to as the "peace that passes all understanding."
 
I believe this is the feeling the shepherds must have experienced when an angel appeared before them and announced the birth of Christ, and what Joseph and Mary must have felt when they learned that they had been chosen to be the guardian and earthly parents of God's own son. This is the feeling that each of us experience when we realize that better than any gift we can possibly imagine under our Christmas tree, we have been given the gift of life from a God who says I know you, and I love you, and I forgive you, and you are mine forever. That is glorious joy!

Dear Heavenly Father, May each of us feel your presence, acknowledge it's holiness, and be filled with the joy and peace that comes to us from you. Amen .

Contributed by Debra
Sunday December 19, 2010
Liturgical Year A Week 4
Sunday Gospel reading:
Fourth Sunday in Advent