Grace Notes: Part Two - Suffering and Joy

By SISTER ANNE MARIE WALSH, SOLT

 We began the first part of our reflection on joy by noting that we are created for joy and that we cannot live without it.  This does not mean that we can come to a state in this life where joy is not mixed with real sorrows and where joy is completely stable. That will be fully accomplished in eternity.  

So, what does Jesus mean when he promises the apostles at the Last Supper that he wants them to have a joy that no one can take from them? We can try to tackle this by examining two very different stories from the recent historical fires in California. 

On Jan. 5 of this year, the Golden Globes Award ceremony was held amidst a gathering of joyful contenders and attendees.  At a certain point, the host, Nikki Glaser, summarized the awards by highlighting a certain detail in the winner’s acceptance speeches. 
She pointed to the list of those who were thanked and noted teams and assistants were thanked 11 times. Three winners mentioned mothers. 

Then, she said: “And God, the creator of the universe, wasn’t thanked a single time.” Everyone laughed at this, to which she remarked, “Well, what did you expect? This is a godless city.” There was more laughter.

Two days later, the fires broke out in the LA area, and many of the stars experienced how fleeting joy can be when they lost their homes in what many described as an apocalyptic firestorm that left massive tracks of land and residences in complete ashes.

A little aside here.  People have quickly jumped up to proclaim this was God’s punishment.  A more refined understanding sees that sin carries its own punishment with it.  God did not have to do anything directly. If one rejects God and his goodness, mercy, providence, protection, etc., there is nothing and no one to save you from the vicissitudes (often dramatic) of life.  That’s what these stars experienced.  Simply the consequences of their own choices. Fair enough.

Directly opposed to this is the story of another family who came through the same experience and lost their home of 35 years, along with everyone else. But their response was entirely different. They gathered around the rubble that had once been their home and sang songs of praise, most notably the Regina Caeli, which is a hymn to Our Blessed Mother rejoicing in the Resurrection of her son, Jesus Christ. The joy of the Lord was the strength of this family who resolved to rebuild and to help their neighbors do the same, following Mary’s example.

Mary gave thanks and rejoiced because, in her singular faith, she believed that Jesus would rise from the ashes of death and nothing would be able to separate her from him again, He in whom she knew her joy would never be lost.  This is what the family above understood, and this is what the apostles learned.  That Jesus, their joy, could not be taken from them, even by death, that most formidable and implacable “enemy” we all face.  Because of that, they could suffer with joy, knowing that the sorrows of this life will pass into unfading joy for those who believe and keep themselves “near the fire.”

As C.S. Lewis puts it: “If you want to get warm, you must stand near the fire; if you want to be wet, you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.”   

And, we could add, has them without end, unlike the passing joys of this world. 

Grace Notes