'Happy Christmas!' laughs the jovial Santa Claus, as he settles himself into his temporary accommodation in the local shopping centre. Santa's words give light-hearted expression to our deep-felt desire for happiness, a desire which seems to be put into sharper focus at Christmas, the one time of the year when we expect ourselves to be happy and can feel a failure if we are not.

We all know that there's more to Christmas than shopping frenzy and yet we can still find ourselves caught up in the pursuit of - in the purchase of - a "Happy Christmas." We forget that the promise of the first Christmas was not the superficial happiness pedalled by ads but, rather, God's offer of joy. "I bring you news of great joy," the angel told the shepherds, "a joy to be shared by the whole people"

Joy is a difficult experience to define. It bears no resemblance to the shallow happiness - the 'sugar rush' - associated with possessions and infatuations. Instead joy is to be found is the experience of a life lived fully, with all its pain and pleasure. To experience joy is to embrace life as gift, God's gift, and to feel the reassurance of God's presence in that life.

Let's use the Sunday gospels over the next few weeks to help us to steer a course through Advent and to uncover, or recover, the experiences of joy in our own lives. Let's help to make Christmas in our parish and in our homes truly a time of great joy.


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