Weeping or Rejoicing?
theophilus May 21st, 2009
Do you ever get the feeling that everyone is rejoicing; while you’re stuck with a feeling of anxiety mixed with a spark of hopelessness? That somehow, you’re left on an island, solitary and alone, worried about the future; while everyone else is regaling in the excesses of the present?
Recently, I’ve actually been talking to a great number of people who share this view. They fear that the world has gotten more dangerous, the economy more uncertain, their futures less promising, and their religious freedom less secure.
Yet, if we are to believe the polls and media, and many of our political and cultural leaders, things have never seemed more hopeful. We are being told that we should embrace, not fear, the Teutonic shifts threatening to overthrow the way we live our daily lives; that we should join the chorus celebrating these shifts as great progress, just like everyone else.
If you’re one of these “unenlightened” folks, guess what? Today’s (non-Ascension Day) gospel (from John 16) has a message for you.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Jesus was talking to his disciples on the eve of his Ascension. He was discussing with them the meaning of the words he had just shared with them – “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” I can’t blame the disciples for not exactly grasping what Jesus was trying to say there; but, his followup – “you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices” – is easy enough to understand.
There are going to be times when you will be on the David side of the fight; when you will stand up for what you believe in and will be laughed at, ridiculed, demonized and demeaned. You will be told that you are a fool, short-sighted, unenlightened, hateful, counter-cultural. You will watch others revel in their power, influence and good-feeling, while you are stuck wondering what can possibly come next. You will grow especially wary when even those you think should be on your side line up with the rejoicers.
The question to ask yourself in these circumstances is – do you truly believe you are standing on the side of reason, faith and truth; that you are doing God’s will and serving Christ as he deserves; that you are living as you should as a son or daughter of God? If the answer is “yes” than you can take comfort from John 16. It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing, even if everyone else is “rejoicing.” What matters is whether your thoughts and actions are in uniformity with God’s will – even if it means that you are left to “weep and mourn.”
And if you hold onto Christ’s hope and God’s will for you, especially when it’s the unpopular thing to do, you will find that you are not alone. Others feel the same way. Even better, you will also find that one of two things will happen. You will find out that you are wrong and you can join in with the happy crowd; or you will find out that you are right. In either case, you will find that one day “your grief will become joy.”
- Culture , Divine Filiation , Faith , Jesus , Liturgy , The Battle , Uncategorized
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