To break the forced laughter of "a non-joyful culture that invents everything to have a good time", offering "bits of sweet life everywhere", the true joy of the Christian takes care of it. Which "cannot be bought at the market" but is "a gift of the Spirit", guarded by faith and always "in tension between the memory of salvation and hope". It was all about joy as the authentic "breath of the Christian" in the homily delivered by Pope Francis during the mass on Monday 28 May at Santa Marta.
Taking his cue from the Gospel passage from Mark (10:17-27), the Pontiff pointed out that "this young man who wanted to go on in the life of service to God, who had always lived according to the commandments and also who was able to draw Jesus' love to himself, when he heard the condition that Jesus gave him "became dark in the face and went away saddened"". In practice 'the attitude, the attitude, the roots of his personality came out of his heart'. As if to say: 'Yes, I want to follow the Lord, go with the Lord, but don't touch riches'. Because, the Pope insisted, that young man "was imprisoned in riches, he was not free and for this reason he went away sad".
"Instead, in the first reading St Peter speaks to us of joy, not sadness but Christian joy," the Pontiff continued, recalling the passage from the apostle's first letter (1, 3-9). "This young man went away sad because he was not free, he was a slave," he explained. And "St Peter tells us: 'be filled with joy', exult with joy". Peter's expression is "strong": "Fill with joy, exult with joy".
But "what is joy?" asked Francis, referring to that joy "which Peter asks us to have and which the young man could not have because he was a prisoner of other interests". The Pope defined 'Christian joy' as 'the breath of the Christian'. Because 'a Christian who is not joyful in heart,' he said, 'is not a good Christian'.
Joy then, said the Pontiff, 'is the breath, the way of expression of the Christian'. Moreover, he noted, joy 'is not something you buy or I make with effort: no, it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit'. Because, he recalled, what causes "joy in the heart is the Holy Spirit". There is 'Christian joy if we are in tension between the memory - the memory of being regenerated, as St Peter says, that Jesus saved us - and the hope of what awaits us'. And 'when a person is in this tension, he is joyful'.
But, the Pope warned, "if we forget what the Lord has done for us, to give life, to regenerate us - the word is strong, 'regenerate us', a new creation as the liturgy says - and if we do not look at what awaits us, the encounter with Jesus Christ, if we have no memory, no hope, we cannot have joy". Perhaps 'we have smiles, yes, but joy, no'.
Moreover, Francis reiterated, "one cannot live Christianly without joy, at least in its first degree, which is peace". In fact 'the first step of joy is peace: yes, when trials come, as St Peter says, one suffers; but one comes down and finds peace and that peace no one can take away'. That is why 'the Christian is a man, a woman of joy, a man, a woman of consolation: he knows how to live in consolation, the consolation of the memory of being regenerated and the consolation of the hope that awaits us'. Precisely 'these two make that Christian joy and attitude'.
"Joy is not living from laughter to laughter, no, it is not that," the Pontiff warned. And "joy," he added, "is not being fun, no, it is not that, it is something else". Because "Christian joy is peace, the peace that is in the roots, the peace of the heart, the peace that only God can give us: this is Christian joy". The Pope pointed out that 'it is not easy to preserve this joy'. And 'the Apostle Peter says that it is faith that keeps it: I believe that God has regenerated me, I believe that he will give me that prize'. Precisely 'this is faith, and with this faith you keep joy, you keep consolation'. So 'joy, consolation, but only faith can keep it'.
"We," the Pope acknowledged, "live in a culture that is not joyful, a culture where so many things are invented to amuse us, to have a good time; they offer us little bits of sweet life everywhere". But 'this is not joy,' he explained, 'because joy is not something you buy in the marketplace: it is a gift of the Spirit'.
With this in mind, Francis suggested looking inside oneself, asking oneself: 'What is my heart like? Is it peaceful, is it joyful, is it in consolation?". What's more, the Pontiff relaunched, 'even in the moment of disturbance, in the moment of trial, that heart of mine is a heart that is not restless well, with that restlessness that is not good: there is a good restlessness but there is another that is not good, that of seeking security everywhere, that of seeking pleasure everywhere'. Like 'the young man in the Gospel: he was afraid that if he left the riches he would not be happy'.
Therefore 'joy, consolation' are 'our breath as Christians'. And so, Francis suggested, "let us ask the Holy Spirit to always give us this inner peace, that joy that comes from remembering our salvation, our regeneration and the hope of what awaits us". Because "only in this way can one say 'I am a Christian'". Indeed, there cannot be "a dark, saddened Christian, like this young man who 'at these words became dark in the face, went away saddened'". He certainly "was not a Christian: he wanted to be close to Jesus but he chose his own security, not the security that Jesus gives".
For this reason, the Pope concluded, "we ask the Holy Spirit to give us joy, to give us consolation, at least in the first degree: peace". Aware that "being a man and a woman of joy means being a man and a woman of peace, it means being a man and a woman of consolation: may the Holy Spirit give us this."
[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 29/05/2018].
Without fear
Fear and sadness make people and even the Church sick, because they paralyse, make them self-centred and end up spoiling the air of communities that display the 'forbidden' sign on the door because they are afraid of everything. Instead, it is joy, which in sorrow comes to be peace, the courageous attitude of the Christian, sustained by the fear of God and the Holy Spirit. This is what the Pope said in the Mass celebrated on Friday 15 May in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.
In the liturgy of the word, Francis was quick to point out, commenting on the day's readings, "there are two strong words that the Church makes us meditate on: fear and joy. And so - we read in the Acts of the Apostles (18:9-18) - the Lord says to Paul: "Do not be afraid; keep speaking".
"Fear," the Pope explained, "is an attitude that hurts us, weakens us, shrinks us, even paralyses us". So much so that "a person under fear does nothing, does not know what to do: he is fearful, fearful, concentrated on himself so that something bad, ugly does not happen to him". Therefore "fear leads to selfish egocentrism and paralyses". Precisely "for this reason Jesus says to Paul: do not be afraid, continue to speak".
Fear, in fact, 'is not a Christian attitude', but 'is an attitude, we might say, of an imprisoned soul, without freedom, which has no freedom to look forward, to create something, to do good'. And so those who are afraid keep repeating: 'No, there is this danger, there is that other, that other', and so on. "What a pity, fear hurts!" commented Francis again.
Fear, however, 'must be distinguished from the fear of God, with which it has nothing to do'. The fear of God, said the Pontiff, 'is holy, it is the fear of adoration before the Lord, and the fear of God is a virtue'. It, in fact, 'does not shrink, it does not weaken, it does not paralyse'; on the contrary, 'it leads forward towards the mission that the Lord gives'. And in this regard, the Pontiff added: "The Lord, in chapter 18 of Luke's Gospel, speaks of a judge who did not fear God or have regard for anyone, and did whatever he wanted". This "is a sin: the lack of fear of God and also self-sufficiency". Because "it distracts from the relationship with God and also from adoration".
Therefore, Francis said, 'the fear of God, which is good, is one thing; but fear is another thing'. And "a fearful Christian is little: he is someone who has not understood what the message of Jesus is".
The "other word" proposed by the liturgy, "after the Ascension of the Lord", is "joy". In the Gospel passage from John (16:20-23), "the Lord speaks of the passage from sadness to joy", preparing the disciples "for the moment of passion: 'You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will be in sadness, but your sadness will be changed into joy'". Jesus suggests "the example of the woman at the moment of childbirth, who has much pain but afterwards, when the child is born, she forgets about the pain" to make room for joy. "And no one will be able to take your joy away from you," the Lord therefore assures.
But "Christian joy," the Pope warned, "is not mere amusement, it is not a passing joy". Rather, "Christian joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit: it is having a heart that is always joyful because the Lord has overcome, the Lord reigns, the Lord is at the right hand of the Father, the Lord has looked upon me and sent me and given me his grace and made me a son of the Father". This is what 'Christian joy' really is.A Christian, therefore, 'lives in joy'. But, Francis asked, "where is this joy in the saddest moments, in moments of sorrow? Let us think of Jesus on the Cross: did he have joy? Eh no! But yes, he had peace!". In fact, the Pope explained, "joy, in the moment of pain, of trial, becomes peace". Instead, "a joy in the moment of pain becomes darkness, becomes gloom".
That is why 'a Christian without joy is not a Christian; a Christian who lives continuously in sadness is not a Christian'. To "a Christian who loses peace, in the moment of trials, of sickness, of so many difficulties, something is missing".
Francis invited people to "have no fear and have joy", explaining: "To have no fear is to ask for the grace of courage, the courage of the Holy Spirit; and to have joy is to ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit, even in the most difficult moments, with that peace that the Lord gives us".
This is what 'happens in Christians, happens in communities, in the whole Church, in parishes, in many Christian communities'. In fact, "there are fearful communities, who always play it safe: 'No, no, let's not do this...'. No, no, this cannot be done, this cannot be done'". So much so that "it seems that on the entrance door they have written 'forbidden': everything is forbidden out of fear". So 'when you enter that community the air is foul, because the community is sick: fear sickens a community; lack of courage sickens a community'.
But 'even a community without joy is a sick community, because when there is no joy there is emptiness. No, on the contrary: there is fun'. And so, at the end of the day, "it will be a beautiful community that is fun, but worldly, sick of worldliness because it does not have the joy of Jesus Christ". And 'one effect, among others, of worldliness,' the Pontiff warned, 'is to speak ill of others'. Therefore, 'when the Church is fearful and when the Church does not receive the joy of the Holy Spirit, the Church becomes sick, communities become sick, the faithful become sick'.
In the prayer at the beginning of Mass, the Pope recalled, 'we asked the Lord for the grace to lift us up to Christ seated at the right hand of the Father'. It is precisely "the contemplation of Christ seated at the right hand of the Father," he said, "that will give us courage, give us joy, take away our fear, and also help us not to fall into a superficial and amusing life".
"With this intention of raising our spirit towards Christ seated at the right hand of the Father," Francis concluded, "we continue our celebration, asking the Lord: raise our spirit, take away all fear and give us joy and peace.
[Pope Francis, homily s. Marta 15 May 2015; (from: L'Osservatore Romano, daily ed., Anno CLV, no.109, 16/05/2015)]
