I pray that each of us may follow the joyful example of Pope
Francis. He has had many inspiring
quotes when it comes to the necessity of joy in proclaiming Christ. Here are two (both from his apostolic
exhortation The Joy of the Gospel):
· “One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness
and zeal is a defeatism which
turns us into querulous and
disillusioned pessimists, “sourpusses”
[literally “vinegar faced”].
Nobody can go off to battle unless he is fully convinced of victory
beforehand” (paragraph #85).
· “There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent
without Easter. 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” (paragraph #6).
In meeting with our faculty and staff, I
have set forth one of my goals as a pastor, which I share with you now: let’s foster
a spirit of joy at St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Columban! Let’s get excited about our beautiful
Catholic faith that was given to us by Christ!
In the Catholic tradition, joy is different
than mere happiness or pleasure.
Joy is much deeper and is still present even if we are not particularly
happy at the surface level. It can
(and should) even be present amidst difficult suffering. This is possible because we know that
Jesus Christ has already won the battle and we are on the winning team! True joy is neither superficial nor
faked but learned and lived. It is
a virtue that must be practiced and fostered over a lifetime. It is one of the greatest
characteristics of someone who evangelizes well.
Joyless Christians are one of the biggest
obstacles to fulfill our mission of bringing others to Jesus. Who would want to join our faith if we
were a bunch of crabby-pants?
At the same time, living joyful lives is
attractive to others. We should look different than our secular
brothers and sisters. People should see a light of hope in us as we
go about our day and be curious as to why.
May the example of
Pope Francis’ joy inspire all we do at St. Thomas parish and school and St.
Columban. I pray that anyone new
to our community of faith may perceive that we are different because we are
joyful people.
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