4th Sunday of Lent 11.3.18 Joy and Sorrow
This fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Laetare Sunday, a time to rejoice.
Every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection, and we
are always better off for recalling that event.
Yet we might wonder how we can be joyful in a world where so
much goes wrong and, if anything, is getting worse.
We find that we can be joyful and sorrowful at the same
time. There are different layers. Some things are on the surface, others are
deeper down.
Think of a pool of water. If the world is a pool, then there
is always trouble on the surface. But if we look deeper we find perfect calm.
The wind is howling and the waves are rising and the boat is
being tossed about. But deeper down all is calm. There we are filled with joy,
hope, peace, etc.
It might be so deep sometimes that we know it only in our subconscious.
But through faith we know there is such a place, where all is secure, and that
is our joy.
The security comes from the certainties which we enumerate
in our Creeds. There is a God, who does exist, and who has done all those
things we know of - become Man, died on the Cross, Risen again, sent the Holy
Spirit, promised to come again; who is willing to forgive our sins no matter
how many times we have failed Him.
This is all very consoling material.
We carry this truth around with us. It is better than money
in the bank. It is more powerful than a sword or a gun. It transforms reality
for the better.
It is so
powerful because it is true, and nothing can make it untrue. People do stop
believing it, but that is a change in them, not in the objective truth itself.
The saints
show us the way. St Paul could be happy with ‘full stomach or empty’ (Ph 4,12) To
him ‘life is not a thing to waste words on’ (Ac 20,24).
We are not as
strong as that. We still worry about circumstances (the top of the pool). But
we can get better at this.
There are
many things which are genuinely bad, however, which can further challenge our
joyfulness. Injustice, cruelty, murder, rape, genocide etc etc. How can we come
up smiling after hearing of these things?
Even the
worst things do not change what we know to be true. We can grieve, we can weep,
yet in doing so we are not denying all that we believe. In time, in God’s
order, the good will prevail.
Every sin
and disorder will be dealt with; every unjust suffering set right.
All can be
absorbed in God’s justice and mercy. We must remember that it is all His
universe anyway. Nothing can happen outside of His providence.
We do what
we can to stop injustices, and set things right, but what we cannot change we
commend to God’s mercy. He will know what to do.
We are, in
a way back at the beginning: we could be as happy here today as on the first
Easter when the disciples discovered that Christ had risen; or at the first
Pentecost when they burst out onto the streets with joy.
Nothing has
changed, except our enthusiasm has cooled greatly.
We have
allowed ourselves to be smothered with gloom and anxiety, and in that anxiety
we do not go deep enough into the pool to derive consolation.
Staying
only on the surface people will neglect prayer; and then, operating only on their
own strength, they find they cannot cope; becoming cynical instead of joyful.
All of
which can happen to us. And why, therefore, we need to ensure that we are in
tune with the depths of our faith, constantly reaffirming that faith, which is our
treasure.
We are rich,
but if we forget where we have buried the treasure we are poor again.
We are
happy, even if we do not know it – we could say! May the Lord help us to know how
happy we are, or ought to be.
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