Frustration, anxiety or depression seem normal in today’s world. But certain Bible passages challenge us to turn this response to tragedies upside down: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again. Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4). “Impossible,” you say! “Ridiculous!” you insist. “After all, I haven’t won the lottery! I have not gotten a COVID 19 shot!”
But in the New Testament the words “rejoice” and “joy” (Greek “Chara”) are used over 130 times: when the angel, Gabriel, greets Mary; when Christmas shepherds hear glad tidings; and when the resurrected Jesus appears, “[The apostles] fell down to do him reverence, then returned to Jerusalem filled with joy” (Lk 24:52). Another particular passage that strikes us occurs when the seventy-two disciples, returned from a mission trip (Luke 10:17). First Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said: “I offer you praise, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth… then turning to them adding, “Do not rejoice so much in the fact that the devils are subject to you as that your names are inscribed in heaven.”
The literal translation of Jesus “rejoicing in the Holy Spirit” is closer to “Jesus jumped for joy!” This physical image demolishes any impressions of Jesus as overly serious or too other-worldly. And, surely, this image of a happy and joyful Jesus helps explain his magnetic power in the Gospels. This passage also points out that Jesus first joins his disciples in their rejoicing. Only later, does he invite them to a deeper joy, not based in actions, but in being children of God in heaven.
Pope St. John Paul II also exhorts us to joy: “Christ came to bring joy: joy to children, joy to parents, joy to families and to friends, joy to workers and to scholars, joy to the sick and joy to the elderly, joy to all humanity. In a true sense, joy is a keynote of the Christian message and the recurring motif of the Gospels…. Be messengers of joy”
The challenge of Christian joy is in seeing things like –landing a perfect job, or holding a first-born child, or a long-awaited family reunion; as gifts from God. The second part of the challenge is to reject pursuing joyful feelings for their own sake. Christian joy brings us beyond an initial feeling, beyond our emotional reactions to circumstances, events, and people around us. We are called to welcome our emotions as gifts of God, but at the same time not allow them to dominate our lives.
Joy, as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, even allows us to cross the threshold of sorrow and darkness into the realms of deep happiness. As we embrace Jesus as the center of our lives, and surrender all to His Spirit, God will increase the joy first given at our baptism, confirmation and Eucharist. We can grow in joy.
“Stress is not so much the result of the situation in which we find ourselves, but the way we appraise it. If we look at it as hopeless, we aren’t likely to crack a smile. If we see it as ‘one of those things’, we may lighten up and rise to meet the challenge while having fun doing it,” write Susan Mute and Adrian Van Kaam in Healthy and Holy Under Stress: A Royal Road to Wise Living.
Joy also involves action, since its companions are thankfulness, and the hope that God gives amidst trials. We can choose to rejoice by thanking God for both the tiniest good that we see, and for the goodness that appears to be distant. A joyful Christian we know is a native American Catholic from Wisconsin, who grew up in a large family. When they were down to their last few dollars, or experiencing a serious problem, his father would say: “Let’s have a pity party! Let’s eat ice cream and cake.” And by God’s grace the family always had what they really needed.
Here are some suggestions for increased joy:
- Ask the Holy Spirit to release the fruit of joy within you, especially in daily personal prayer.
- Choose deliberate acts of thanksgiving and rejoicing (thank God for little things in your life.).
- Discover the joy of conversion. Ask God to help you repent of sins against hope, like complaining. Celebrate the Sacrament of Penance.
- Quietly imagine a joy that is out of reach (family visit, new job, healing). Pray, “Thank you God for the time when I will ______________. I surrender this to you right now.” As we try to rejoice in the presence of Christ, His joy can seize us.
- Develop Christian, supportive friendships where you can both lament and rejoice together in God’s presence.
- Reach out to serve others, as an instrument of joy, in the Church and the community.
- Work at developing a Christian sense of humor. Think of St. Teresa of Avila who said, “A sad saint is a sad sap!”