Wednesday – Second Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 5: 17-26; John 3: 16-21
Readings: Acts 5: 17-26; John 3: 16-21
Happy Easter!
Maligayang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay!
Joyeuses Pacqes!
Felices Pascuas!
Phục Chúc Mừng Sinh!
Maligayang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay!
Joyeuses Pacqes!
Felices Pascuas!
Phục Chúc Mừng Sinh!
In any language we are living a season of great joy. Jesus is risen and that is the reason for our joy. With the first disciples of Jesus and Christian disciples of every age, we rejoice and give thanks that life has triumphed over death, that good has triumphed over evil, that love is stronger than hate. There is great reason to rejoice and be glad.
Pope Francis has said that the identity card of the Christian is the joy of the gospel. He says no Christian can exist without joy. Christians live in joy and amazement because of the resurrection of Jesus. We see it in the faith of the early Christians in the Acts of the Apostles. Trials and persecutions and imprisonment did not dampen their joy and commitment to spreading the gospel. At the Last Supper, in preparing his disciples for his coming “hour,” Jesus told them: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” These apostles now know the joy that Jesus promised them.
It is the joy of the gospel. It is the joy of having been chosen by Jesus, saved by Jesus, regenerated by Jesus. It is the joy rooted in hope that Jesus is waiting for us. It is a joy rooted in the certainty that, despite the crosses and sufferings, Jesus leads us to resurrection and everlasting life.
The Christian grows in joy through trusting in God. The Christian rejoices because he or she is so aware that God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that we might have eternal life. Jesus offers us the joy that comes from knowing that we are his brothers and sisters.
In the very beginning of Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis reminds us: The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.
Pope Francis is constantly fostering what he calls “a culture of encounter.” So then Christian joy comes from a relationship with the Lord Jesus. That alone will bring you joy (not following the rules, not being efficient, not getting high grades, not meeting the expectations of others, not being the perfect priest or seminarian or Sister or Christian).
I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. (EG 3)
This personal encounter leads to a deep and personal relationship.
Sad to say, some Christians look for joy or happiness in some other place, through some other relationship, in some passing pleasure. Blessed Paul VI, in his apostolic exhortation Gaudete in Domino wrote: our “technological society has succeeded in multiplying occasions of pleasure, yet has found it very difficult to engender joy”.It was true when he wrote it in 1975 and still true today, maybe more so.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church also discusses the nature of joy and happiness. It teaches us “that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or any human achievement…or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love.” (CCC, 1723) In other words, temporal happiness is not enough to satisfy us; we long for the “joy of the Lord” (CCC, 1720). Recognizing that God is our Creator and that we rely totally on Him is a “source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence” (CCC 301).
In chapter 4 of the recently published Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsulate (GE), he mentions what he calls “a few signs or spiritual attitudes that are necessary if we are to understand the way of life to which the Lord calls us. The second sign he describes is “joy and a sense of humor” (he doesn’t mean jokes). He speaks about the saints and prophets as people who were full of joy. For example, when Mary recognized the new life within her womb, she rejoiced. Jesus himself rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. After the resurrection, wherever the disciples went, there was much joy.
Hard times may come, when the cross casts its shadow, yet nothing can destroy the supernatural joy that “adapts and changes, but always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.” That joy brings deep security, serene hope and a spiritual fulfilment that the world cannot understand or appreciate. (GE, 125)
Later, he elaborates on this idea: This is not the joy held out by today’s individualistic and consumerist culture. Consumerism only bloats the heart. It can offer occasional and passing pleasures, but not joy. Here I am speaking of a joy lived in communion, which shares and is shared, since “there is more happiness in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20:35) and “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). Fraternal love increases our capacity for joy, since it makes us capable of rejoicing in the good of others: “Rejoice with those who rejoice” (Rom 12:15). “We rejoice when we are weak and you are strong” (2 Cor 13:9). On the other hand, when we “focus primarily on our own needs, we condemn ourselves to a joyless existence”. (GE 128)
So it is clear that joy and love go together. When we realize that we are loved by God, that God sent his Son as a gift of his love, we experience true joy. When we see and experience the display of love’s power to save in the resurrection of Jesus, we experience true joy. When we experience the love of God made manifest in the Holy Scriptures, in the sacraments of the Church, in the mutual love of brothers and sisters, and in the efforts to overcome evil and injustice in our society, we experience true joy.
If it is true Christian joy and not a narcissistic seeking of pleasure, this joy motivated by love will multiply itself in the Christian effort to bring the joyful message of the Good News to the whole world. Our world is in desperate need to hear this message. It is the challenge Jesus makes to us, his joyful disciples.
Henry Knox Sherrill was the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States in the mid 20th century. He wrote: “The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world. Still before us lie work, discipline, and sa crifice. But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice.”
This is what we see the apostles doing in today’s first reading. They are working at preaching the Word. They are disciplining themselves to remain faithful to the mission entrusted to them. They are making whatever sacrifices necessary to be faithful to that mission. They are empowered by the Lord to carry on the mission. And the Lord accompanies them. He makes a way for them. All along the way, they experience God’s protection and guidance.
Let us then, filled with Easter joy, accept the challenge of proclaiming the joyful message that God so loved the world that he sent his Son so that we may have life and have it to the full.
May we never be discouraged or feel overwhelmed by the challenge.
The risen Lord accompanies us as we bring the joyful message to every periphery and corner of the world.
