“Give me back the joy of your salvation.”

Psalm 51:14

Is our faith one that says, “Joy to the world he is Risen?” No, our faith is, “Joy to the world for Jesus has suffered, died and risen from the dead.” Our Joy springs from the fact that Jesus has suffered everything we have suffered, died everyone’s death and is risen forevermore. If we choose to accept and live the unmerited gift of Jesus’ risen life through our own suffering and death, we will have the joy of knowing his risen life this day and forevermore.

How does joy happen? It comes from knowing Jesus in a personal way. Joy happens when we experience Jesus as Risen and present to us all the time. It comes from declaring the victory that Jesus has won. Jesus has defeated suffering and death and now lives in unspeakable joy. If we throw our life, suffering and death into his perfect care, he promises us to share in that joy. He has come to earth to show the way and nothing- no power; person, sin or mistake- can hold us back or keep us down from rising in the joy of heaven.

Joy starts out by asking the question of what is the worst thing that could happen to us in life. Without Jesus and the hope of life beyond death, the most miserable thing that can happen in life is death. But for the person who has joy, death could be seen as the best thing that could ever happen. If we have thrown ourselves into the care of Jesus, then we will rise to a life where there will be no more tears, suffering, pain or death and we will have every longing of our human heart fulfilled. It all has to do with what we are seeing when we see our life, suffering and death.

St. Paul says if our lives are limited to what this world has to offer, we are the most pitiable of all people. Joy is the antidote for the sadness and hopelessness of the person whose hopes are limited to this life only. JOY is Jesus Over You and it is choosing to see, with the eyes of faith we have been given, that Jesus is Lord and Ruler and Master over all the suffering and death in our lives and he has the final say on what will happen to it all. And he says in and through it all, “Rise! Rise with me in your suffering. Learn to see me in coming to you it all for I am risen and with you always. See my perfection relentlessly seeking you in your imperfection. When you look at your sufferings do not look to them alone. Rather, let them be a reminder that I have come, I am coming and I will come to have you rise from them and live the perfect life of love that I have intended for you from the very beginning of time. Let your sufferings instantaneously remind you that I am with you to lift you up in the joy of salvation. I am the victory over suffering and death and you have victory in me. So rise with me! Tear open your heart, let your sufferings spill out and cry out for my everlasting healing. Choose to see the JOY in all the pain. Choose to see my perfection coming to you in your imperfect world. I am with you in your suffering and greater than all you suffer. My life given for you on the cross has defeated death and where I now am I call you to be. I have risen through it all and so will you if you entrust your life to me. I am JOY- your JOY. Choose me over all.”

Jesus over you. Jesus over sufferings. Jesus over death. Jesus over everything, all the time, all the way to heaven. JOY! Seeing the perfect coming into our imperfect lives to lead us to the perfect life of heaven.

No Jesus, no JOY. Know Jesus, know JOY. How do I come to know Jesus and know JOY?

Imagine you are out at stormy sea and you have just been thrown off the boat. The waters are raging and they will devour you. The devouring waters are what you suffer. Why the abuse and its destroying aftermath? When will the war, killing, violence and revenge end? The divorce that shattered so many dreams. She was so young. The countless babies taken from the womb and all those who starve to death- each day. The lonely that wait for a visit. The poor, homeless, uncared for, unloved. The waters of our suffering rage and will swallow us whole. We need rescue. We have a Rescuer. He has come to rescue us from the waters that seek to devour. In order to be rescued, however, we must fully cooperate with the Rescuer. We must do whatever he tells us so that we can get back into the boat. It is all about letting the Rescuer rescue. That is JOY!

St. Augustine said, “God made us without our permission but cannot save us without our consent.” As we let the Rescuer rescue, as we give Jesus consent to save us, we come into JOY.

God’s will!
+Fr. John