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Friday, March 29, 2024

Joy, prayer and gratitude

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There’s a saying: “No news is good news.” This proverbial phrase was first coined in the mid-17th century to signify that all must be well when you haven’t heard from somebody. In other words, any news is better than evil news.

But today, people must have already spun a different twist to the meaning of this phrase such that in contemporary usage it may often mean good news cannot be considered news at all. People tend to become more excited to hear bad news rather than good news. This is especially true in news reportage and other mass communications like radio, television etc.

Even in social media, the predominance of bad and negative news in postings, shares and comments will give you the impression that nothing good is going on in this world. We are bombarded daily by intrigues, crimes and all forms of inhumanity of man against his fellow human beings to a point that we sometimes become desensitized, inure, and callous to all forms of misery. We respond by incessant complaining and acrimony, shouting to all and sundry how dysfunctional this society of ours has become.

This season of advent it is time to heed the invitation of Christ to take a different path; an alternative path that will turn our sorrows into joy, despair into hope and pain to healing and recovery. In his homily this advent, Pope Francis reminds us that “when we are in darkness and difficulty the smile doesn’t come, but there is the hope that teaches us to smile on that path to find God,” Francis said, noting that one of the trademarks of those who break away from God is “the absence of the smile, the smile of the hope of finding God.” This is the invitation that Christ is asking us this Season. In the Gospel of Matthew, 11:28, Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Indeed, if the spirit of Christ is in us, we can find rest even in the direst of situations, and in the most difficult moments. “When we are in darkness and difficulty the smile doesn’t come,” Francis said. “But there is the hope that teaches us to smile on that path to find God.” the Pope adds.

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In so many instances in the past, we have shown how nature smiled on us by teaching us as a people how to laugh and be resilient even in the most difficult times. We can afford to joke and laugh in the midst of endless political intrigues, an unsolvable traffic jams, grinding poverty, rampant criminality and extrajudicial killings—these are some of the long array of dysfunctionalities of daily existence. Yet, Christ offers us a different kind of laughter and happiness. In his yearly message Pope Francis makes clear to us what kind of happiness Christ can really offer. He said: Perhaps these people know how to “have a good laugh” or make jokes, but they are missing the smile that only God knows how to give, the Pope continued. Life, he said, “is often a desert, it’s hard to walk in it, but if we entrust ourselves to God it can become beautiful and wide like a highway…It’s enough to never lose hope, it’s enough to continue to believe, always, despite everything,” he said, noting that often when we find ourselves in front of a child, “there is a spontaneous smile because a child is hope. Let us also smile even if it was a difficult day, because we see the hope.”

A week ago, that is on Dec. 17, Pope Francis in his message to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square said three simple attitudes that can help prepare us to welcome Jesus Christ. “Saint Paul invites us to prepare for the coming of the Lord by assuming three attitudes: constant joy, persevering prayer and continual thanksgiving,” the Pope said. “Joy, prayer and gratitude are three attitudes that prepare us to live Christmas in an authentic way,” he said.

To be truly happy, God teaches us to learn from the innocent happiness of a child. So laughing and making jokes should not be at the expense of others, but one borne out of innocence, respect for others and dependence on God the Father much like an innocent child who respects his elders and depends totally on his mother. This alone is possible if we hope and totally trust in the Lord. Mundane laughter and happiness, much like what we read in social and other forms of media nowadays, is empty. Often it is joviality drawn from cynicism, and irreverence made at the expense of other’s dignity. This can be demeaning, uncivil and beneath what has been designed to us by God. Yet the joy and smile that Christ brings to us is one that uplifts the spirit, one that is genuine, and eternal because it is founded on hope and love.

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