PRACTICING JOY IN A FRACTURED WORLD
By Paul Melley
There is no mistaking that we are living through deeply troubling times. The long line of disturbing news and social media headlines are too many to enumerate. We are inundatedwithgrimdailyreportsofincreasingviolenceand strains of nationalism, sexual scandal, divisive and alienating rhetoric. It's difficult to even create the space to ask: What is the meaning of all this suffering? What is the focal point of God's activity in our lives? Yet, as people of faith,thesearetheveryquestionsweareobligedtoask
I remember a conversation with a parishioner at a parish where I used to work. He was an expert in Gestalt based organization and leadership development. We were discussing leadership in a time of uncertainty, and he suggestedthatI"bringtothesystemwhatitlacks."Inother words, if there's tension, bring peace. If there's heightened emotion, bring calm. If there's complacency, bring enthusiasm; despair, bring hope. So how do we "bring the system what it lacks" in our time as people of faith? I propose that we should strive to be practitioners of joy joy, as the Jesuit philosopher Teilhard de Chardin put it, which"istheinfalliblesignofthepresenceofGod.”
Let's be clear that authentic joy is not a blissful naiveté there is real pain and suffering in this world. To live in this world is to also notice rust and rot, endings, injustice, and scarceness. It is to know that moments and things do not go on forever, and there is a limited supply to everything. But joy exists at the level of our deepest desires and God's desires for us Joy can exist alongside feelings of great sorrow and loss Pope Francis thinks along these lines when he writesinthe Joy of the Gospel:
"I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved. I understand the grief of people who have to endure great suffering, yet slowly but surely we all have to let the joy of faith slowly revive as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid the greatest distress..." (no.6).
To bring this "infallible sign" of God's presence to our time, we need to practice joy through wonder, prayer, gratitude, and service
WONDER:
In her poem "Good Morning," Mary Oliver plunges us into wonder: "The multiplicity of forms! The hummingbird, the fox, the raven, the sparrow hawk, the otter, the dragonfly, the water lily! And on and on. It must be a great disappointment to God if we are not dazzled at least ten times a day " A unique and essential feature of the human species is our questioning, our wondering Wonder for Aristotle, and later for Thomas Aquinas, was the beginning of wisdom a state which beckoned to us to marvel and come to understand the world around us Aquinas notes that the wonder of the philosopher is like the wonder revealed by the poet. Wonder invites us to have a psalmist's heart. The psalms are the poetry of our faith: wonder at the world with hope, lament, sorrow, desire, gratitude, and a yearning for justice. Practicing wonder rouses us to ask, "What if?" and helps to fashion us into prophets of God's joy.
PRAYER:
Prayer was a necessary part of Jesus' relationship with God. It may seem obvious, but anything that was integral to Jesus' life should be part of our own lives and practice as well Prayer is a condition for the possibility of faith the forerunner of hope and joy It enables us to freely choose to apprentice ourselves to see the world the way God sees it Through prayer we can decipher our innermost longings and place them before God Through prayer, God gives us the wisdom, the courage to choose the way of joy, even amidst suffering. St. John Chrysostom wrote of prayer, "Prayer is an all-sufficient panoply, a mind which is never diminished, a treasure which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by the clouds, and a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain and the mother of a thousand blessings."
GRATITUDE:
In the Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis writes about gratitude as a practice, calling it "a spiritual gaze born of deep faith which acknowledges what God is doing in the lives of others At the same time, it is the gratitude which flows from a heart attentive to others” (no 282) Wonder and prayer lead us to gratitude
Writing to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul links joy to gratitude even in a time of unrest encouraging them to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances...” A practice of gratitude can discipline our hearts and shape our vision from noticing only privation and despair to seeing possibility and hope.
SERVICE:
Mr Rogers famously gave advice for times of trouble:“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ ... I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers so many caring people in this world.”Being a helper means giving of ourselves to knowing and loving each other, and in return, we are mutually changed and enriched. It is an embodiment of “bringing to the system what it lacks.” Our faith lays claims on us to be those helpers, and enables us to address the needs, challenges, and questions of our age. Our service to others is part of God’s loving response and gift to the world. This is a startling idea and profound mystery. God chooses us to serve, and in God’s Spirit, we become part of God’s work for the transformation of the world We become the helpers others look for amidst the scariness in the news In loving as Jesus loved, we help to show that He has not abandoned the world
Joy, then, far from anything resembling naiveté, is a prophetic sign. It decries the status quo and points to an unrealized hope. Practicing joy is an intentional way of living in a world that so often seems to reject it. In our world, joy is ever in the process of becoming. It strives to realize in the present what we are ultimately to know in fullness. Through wonder, prayer, gratitude, and service, we can help to bring to the world what it appears to lack a sign of joy the infallible sign of God’s presence to our fractured world.
Paul Melley is a PhD student at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College
