BOSTON COLLEGE | THE CHURCH IN THE 21ST CENTURY CENTER
PRACTICING JOY IN A FRACTURED WORLD
GRATITUDE
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 inundated with grim daily reports of increasing violence and 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, these are the very questions we are obliged to ask.
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 writes in the Joy of the Gospel:
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 suggested that I "bring to the system what it lacks." In other 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 "is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”
"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.
Photo courtesy of Jon Tyson on Unsplash
FAITH FEEDS | STUDENT SERIES | GRATITUDE