From the desk of Fr. Ignatius, c.p.

Sunday,December 13, 2009

Today, the readings and prayers are all about joy:  “Sing and shout for joy!”  This third Sunday of Advent used to be called, “Gaudete Sunday” because of St. Paul’s words, “Be joyful!”  This may seem impossible for us after the shock, shame and tears of the Dublin report.  But tears and laughter are twin emotions; if we are not capable of deep sorrow, neither will we be capable of deep joy.  And it is deep joy the we are talking about; in our faith that Jesus came to save us, and that Jesus is still with us.

Your experience may be different, but many are inclined to see Christianity and indeed, all religion, in terms of tragedy.  It is all sad, solemn and serious.  It is sin and suffering, passion and death, and, of course, all this is real.  (You don’t need convincing about this!)  But it is not the whole of reality.  Sin abounds, yes!  But grace abounds, even more!  According to the Greek fathers, God created for the joy of it and the spirit of Christ was there, dancing at creation.  Our faith is about life and joy and dancing as much and more than about sin, suffering and death.

At the death of Isaac, in her old age (Gen: 21) Sarah said, “God has given me cause to laugh; and all those who hear it will laugh with me.”  And Isaac means, “God laughed!”

Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full!  He came that his “joy might be in us.”  Imagine, if you can, the joy of God in us!  So, there is value in seeing the whole thing as a great Divine Comedy (not a particularly new notion) especially for those of us inclined to take ourselves too seriously.

Laughing together can be bonding in a whole new way.  There was an article in the newspaper once about a policeman who let a convicted thief escape.  “We laughed together,” the policeman said as an excuse, “so I just could not longer lock him up.  It just didn’t work.”  

Pascal Mercier puts it so well, “and now they had laughed together for some minutes.  It had been like a touch.  A light hovering touch without resistance, something that made every physical touch seem like a clumsy manoeuvre” (Night Train to Lisbon). 

Master Eckhart wrote, “My Lord told me a joke.  And seeing him laugh has done me more good than all the scriptures I will ever read.”  And even though this sounds like God laughing at his own joke, it would do you good, wouldn’t it?

And God must have the best jokes of all!

Can you laugh?  Really laugh?  Of course, life is real and life is serious and we want to be serious sensible people of today, sceptical of easy answers or easy solutions.  But often, the most sensible and serious thing we can do is to take time off to celebrate, to play – and to pray.