Grief Turned into Joy

In today's Gospel, John 16: 16-20, the disciples are trying to figure out what Jesus meant when he said to them:  "A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.....Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, 'Are you discussing with one another what I said,...Amen, amen, I say to  you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.'" 

Jesus gives us the same message.  Our life here on earth is short--eighty years if we are strong, the psalmist says to us.  Our time here on earth is brief. And, from time to time,  it is filled with weeping and mourning, while the world around us rejoices.  We will grieve for a time but our sorrow will be turned into joy, just as Jesus' was!  Much of Jesus' life was filled with grief: the grief of the loss of His foster father, the grief of being rejected by many, by having chief priests and leaders of His people plotting to kill Him, the grief of others walking away from Him when He spoke of the Eucharist, that is, of eating His Body and drinking His blood. That was too much for many of His disciples.  He endured being accused of blasphemy when He spoke of being one with His Father. Jealous of His growing popularity and of the crowds following Him, the chief priests and leaders found a way to destroy Him, that is to have Him crucified as a criminal to the State of Israel. Yes, Jesus wept and mourned over Jerusalem while the world around Him rejoiced. His grief was turned into joy at the resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. Our grief will also be turned into joy when we, too, like Jesus, return to our Father in heaven!  May we have the courage to endure until the end of our lives, believing in Jesus, trusting Jesus and loving Jesus beyond all else that is!

Being a Disciple of the Lord

In today's first reading, Hebrews 12: 4-7, 11-15, St. Paul likens the trials that we endure here on earth as "discipline." As sons and daughters of God, as disciples of the Lord, we are disciplined by God through the trials we encounter each day. As with children, for whom discipline teaches the right path to follow, a path that ultimately leads to peace, makes them strong and teaches them to make choices that lead to peace, so, too, with us.  God disciplines us to teach us obedience, an obedience that leads to joy and peace, to righteousness and strength in the Lord God. We become like Jesus, who was obedient to the Father unto death and took His rightful place at the right hand of the Father in heaven following His resurrection. So, too, with us!

What have I, have you, learned today from the trials I encountered?

The Bounty of the Lord in our Lives

In the first reading, Philippians 2: 12-18, St. Paul is writing from his prison cell, filled with joy as he anticipates being martyred for the faith.  He is encouraging the Philippians to continue working out their salvation in the Lord Jesus. He asked them to do God's work without "grumbling or questioning."  Recall a time in your life when nothing was too much for those you love--nothing was too much for the Lord! May you and I have the courage to continue doing what we are called to do, as husbands/wives, parents/grandparents, employers or employees, members of a parish, a civic community  or a religious community.  "[B]e blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you  hold onto the word of life [Jesus Christ].... ...[E]ven if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith [martyred], I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me [and with each other]."

As in the case of the Philippians, we, too, live "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation."  Living honestly and morally,  doing what is right for all peoples, I believe, is at an all-time low in the U.S. and likely throughout the world of the 21st century.  Do you, do I, "shine like lights" in this world or are we part of the darkness?  Are we colluders with those spreading darkness in the world of asylum seekers, persons fleeing corrupt and violent dictators in their own native countries? Are we in collusion with those hating others because of their skin color or their sexual orientation or because they practice a faith  other than our own?  Are we among those spreading messages of hopelessness or do we, in the words of the responsorial psalm, "believe that we shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. [Are we waiting] for the Lord with courage...; [are we] stouthearted"?  Are we ourselves persons whose goodness, honesty, love, and faith bring others to proclaim: I have seen/experienced  "the bounty o the Lord" today? If not, why not? And if not, what behaviors/attitudes do I, do you need to change?

"I Will See You Again"

In today's Gospel, John 16: 20-23, Jesus says to us:  "I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question  me about anything."

Jesus, I believe, longs for that day, perhaps more than we do,  when the veil will be lifted and we will see one another face to face.  "No one will take that joy away from us."  Some 2000+ years ago Jesus took on human nature and all that such means. He has experienced, as we do, the temporary diminishment of joy when friends disappoint us.  Conflicts between Jesus and His disciples and those who opposed His teaching sometimes left Him in tears and certainly left Him with questions!  Imagine, though, His return to the glories of heaven with His Father and the Holy Spirit! The rejoicing had to be overwhelming for Him and the Father and the Spirit! That rejoicing will also occur every time that Jesus returns to earth to take a loved one back with Him into his/her eternal home!  That day will come for all of us sooner or later. We will see Jesus face to face and our "hearts will rejoice, and no one will take [our] joy away from [us]." And furthermore, we will have no more questions to ask!

Divine Origin or Human Origin

What happened in both Scriptures today, Acts 5: 34-42 and John 6: 1-15, reveals the power of God at work in everyday life. In the  Acts of the Apostles,  Gamaliel, “a teacher of the law, respected by all the people,” challenged the members of the Sanhedrin, before whom the Apostles appeared as prisoners.  “…have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourself fighting against God.”  

In the Gospel, Jesus multiplies five barley loaves and two fish to feed 5000 people. Jesus saw a need and responded to it.  Jesus continues feeding millions in the Eucharist every Sunday and throughout the week at every Catholic Mass.  The work of the Apostles has spread throughout the world. No human force is able to destroy the work of those commissioned by Jesus to “go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16: 15).  “…if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourself fighting against God.”

Three things: 1) If what I am pursuing in my life is of God, it will endure. If the activity in which I am involved is God’s will for me, I will succeed in it, even when I meet obstacles or others are opposing me and the work I am doing.  2) If the origin of that to which I am opposed  is of divine origin—be that something in my own life  or the life of another--I could be fighting against God. 3) God will raise others up at the right time to confront those who want to harm me, as He did for the Apostles before the Sanhedrin.  God has my back!

God Daily at Work Recreating Newness of Life

Today’s first reading, Is. 65: 17-21, opens with the Lord telling us that he is “about to create new heavens and a new earth,” and that the “things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind.”  Rather, God says, “there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create;  for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people.”

God is speaking, also, to us and about us.  The things in our past, the things that are painful or about which we are ashamed, the things that bring forth distress, that have been traumatic for us, will be no more. These things shall no longer be remembered in the sense of causing us the pain they once produced within our minds, bodies and spirit. No, God, is recreating us, day by day,  into the persons God designed us to be: men and women of integrity, men and women of humility, men and women of faith, men and women of trust, forgiving and reconciling men and women and thus healed and forgiven, knowing our hearts of hearts that we are truly loved unconditionally and fully! 

As we come to Jesus as persons needing Jesus’ help and depending on God’s mercy to be made “new” again, to have our sadness turned into “rejoicing,”  as did the Roman soldier in today’s Gospel, John 4: 43-54, we will experience “the fever” of our anger, resentment, guilt and shame and “the diseases” by which we condemn and judge others and ourselves as unworthy of God’s love and mercy leave us. Yes, we will be restored to the health of the redeemed, for, not only has God created “Jerusalem to be a joy,” but has also created us to be a joy as well and to know joy in this life, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

Chaos, Woe and Darkness: Invitations to be Creative or to Accept Help

In today's first reading, Isaiah 45: 6b-8, 18, 21b-25, Isaiah makes the statement that God forms "the light" and creates "the darkness", that God makes "well-being" and creates "woe."  My response to the Lord was: "Lord, I have a difficult time believing that darkness and woe (the woes of illness, of war, of violence, and so on) come from You. The Lord's response may sound something like this:

Dorothy Ann (or your name), chaos, woe, and darkness are all part of life, as is order, blessing/joy, and light.  Chaos, woe and darkness are not such for Me. They are opportunities, challenges, and obstacles which, overcome, lead to life anew.  They are opportunities that call for your creativity, that invite you to collaborate with others.  Nothing is really awful or a failure but are temporary blockages to something more profound like discovering My help, My strength within you and others to make things better or to right wrongs.  Your depleted energy, for example, which indicates that your brain is healing, is a blessing that teaches you to respect an injured part of your body and to be attentive to need, your own and others.  Human need, weakness--yours or others--is a time when I, your God, rain down strength and healing from My storehouse of gifts.  It is also when I inspire you to offer help or, if  you withhold what you could do, to realize your stinginess and sinfulness.

Fullness of Redemption

Isaiah, in today's first reading, Is 29:17-24, gives us a glimpse of what awaits those who accept God's gift of redemption:

"On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; and out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.  For the tyrant will be no more and the arrogant will have gone; all who are alert to do evil will be cut off, those whose mere word condemns a [person], who ensnare his defender at the gate, and leave the just [person] with an empty claim...."

You and I are those  redeemed by the Lord's blood poured out on the cross,  where Jesus became sin for us!  Imagine that day when you and I have passed through the doors of death into eternal life. On that day we will have left the gloom and darkness in this world. Our blindness and deafness will be removed. As lowly ones, as the poor of the Lord,  as those in need of God's infinite mercy, will see with new eyes and hear with new ears.  The tyrant and the arrogant within and outside of us will be no more.  Those bent on doing us evil or that within ourselves bent on evil will be cut off. Empty will be the claims of those whose mere words condemn us and that within us that condemns us or others, as well.

Because I believe that, I am filled with joy! What about you?

Enduring Joy

In the  first reading of today’s liturgy, Baruch 4: 5-12, 27-29,  Baruch tells the people not to fear but to remember that the reason that they were conquered by other nations was that they had abandoned the covenant God made with them.  This did not happen, Baruch tells them, because God wanted them to be destroyed, but that they had provoked God by sacrificing to “demons, to no-gods; you forsook the Eternal God who nourished you, and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you.”  Further on in the reading,  the holy city of Jerusalem—where God dwelt, as God dwells in our Tabernacles--says that with “joy I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.”

I could not help but think of the times the Lord is directing us and we simply ignore the Spirit’s direction and do our own thing. “With joy,” God says, “I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.”  God deeply respects our free will and does not ever force us to embrace His will.  God lets us  go to experience the emptiness, if you will, or the frustration of not having followed the way to which God was calling us. It may be as simple as calling a friend, reaching out to someone we slighted and saying “I’m sorry,”  spending some leisure time in the evening with family or community members, listening with an open mind and heart or taking time to study the Scriptures or to do some substantive reading that nurtures our spiritual lives. Or, it may be more serious, like not getting involved with the wrong crowd that leads us into selfish pursuits  or that leads us into violating the rights of another person or of doing that which violates our own personal integrity.  Baruch says to us, then:  “As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God turn now ten times the more to seek him; for he who has brought disaster [frustration, emptiness, pain] upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”