Loving life, joy
Around us, we meet happy people who love life and others, always sad, whose nobody knows what catastrophe has just fallen on them, we do not belong neither to optimists nor pessimists. We live in hope, confident, living every day of the Resurrection of Christ, which necessarily implies our courage to love life without restriction and to be joyful in the image of St Dominic went away singing on his paths of evangelizer.
Nor should we forget that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace." (Gal 5:22) and that in our trinitarian faith , we must make this gift of the Spirit grow in us by praying it often.
How not to love life when, all around you, shines the Creation of the Lord of which we are the guarantors: a flower which opens at dawn, a cloud that stands out from the others and reminds us of a beloved form, a bird song, a sunset... The meetings on our paths are as many opportunities to smile at the other, to show him that "I love him as myself": a child who smiles, family or friendly reunions, our parish community with whom we advance in our faith are all circumstances of joy. Start your day by singing, what a beautiful opening to life! Of course, there will be days of sadness and mourning, but our Hope in God will make us stand firm and love life again. We know very well that the Lord takes upon us our sorrows and our sadness since he sent us his only son to die once and for all for our sins and to overcome death, source of anguish for men, by rising again.
"The Gospel, in which the Cross of Christ shines gloriously, urges joy," Pope Francis writes in his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, continuing with this injunction: "Why don't we also enter this river of joy? »
To love life, joy, is to say no to the protean seduction of Satan, it is to say yes to God and to follow Christ. So, of course, the illness, the suffering which, moreover, do not affect only the elderly, can lead us to despair, to death, to the laziness of still fighting, for oneself, for one's own. "The flesh is weak" (Mt 26,41) but our faith, how great if we remain in the school of Christ by incessant prayer and by our actions, will carry us. Let us always remember the words of Jesus: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Mat 11:28) and "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”(Mt11, 29-30)
So let us be as we exhort Saint Paul: “Rejoice in the Lord always "(Phil 4,4), Saint Paul who makes a lot of reference to joy in his writings, as in the Bible where the theme of joy comes up more than 400 times:" He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy"(Job 8 , 21) “let us rejoice today and be glad” (Ps 118, 24), “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”(Lk 15:10) and Mary is delighted with the Angel's announcement.
Are there not people around us who bear witness to this joy linked to our faith, such as Raymonde, an 86-year-old Bourbonnaise, who loves life, lives joy! I have known her since 2011 when I joined the MCR team in our parish. The joy she always brings is that of her immense faith. Reached by a double AMD, going up, all smiles, the coast of the village with a cane, treated for cancer, she never misses a meeting, except when she is hospitalized of course, no more than she misses the meetings of Lent groups that I organize . She shares the songs with a magnificent breath, the same with which she told me about her last stay in Lourdes. She came back dazzled from Bernadette's country and never ceased to give thanks, fully aware of the profound joy that this pilgrimage had brought her.
There is also my aunt, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, also 86, who has only me as a visitor in her retirement home. Stuck in a wheelchair, I know she can experience joy! What does it matter if she takes me for her sister, her daughter when she never had a child ...? When I make her listen to songs from her childhood, from her life, she still sings! sometimes claps and smiles. My God, I give thanks because I know that she is happy even if she will not remember it when I have passed the door. She does exactly the opposite of what Jesus reproached the generation in front of him: "We played the pipe and you did not dance." (Mt 11, 17)
Let us remember that the first miracle of Jesus took place during the Wedding, the one of Cana, a magnificent moment of love of life and joy! So, let us always rejoice in the Lord.
Annie Draver
MCR France