Joy in this vale of tears

WE have to learn how to find joy in this world that is often called a vale of tears. We cannot escape from disappointments and frustrations in this world, to say the least. And we even have good basis to expect great suffering and painful contradictions.

Finding joy is a matter of choice. If we want it, we will have it. If we look for it, we surely can find it. What we have to avoid is the attitude of simply waiting for it to come. More than that, we have to make sure that our understanding of joy is the right one.

We should dodge the many bogus but showy, noisy and seductive ones that proliferate around. They at best can give only some measure of escapism, but not real joy. We should ward off feelings of envy toward those who may appear to be enjoying life because of these false causes of joy.

So we should try our best to exert the effort to look for the true reason for joy that can express itself in many, very varied ways. Let’s avoid being casual or cavalier about this task. With current world conditions that burden us with many pressures and problems, our laxity in this duty to find joy can be very costly, even fatal.

To put it bluntly, true joy is matter of being with God. We cannot have it any other way. Joy derived simply from some earthly and temporal good or value does not last. It may appear to last for quite a while, as sometimes happens. But it certainly will not last forever. It simply does not have what it takes.

Joy as a product of being with God will certainly involve some suffering in this life of ours in this world. We can only have the joy of bliss, of pure happiness in heaven. But in this life, our joy will always be accompanied by the cross.

At least three reasons can explain that. First, our natural human condition alone generate tension due to the many parts and aspects of our life that we need to coordinate and integrate.

Second, our nature has been wounded by sin that in itself already causes all kinds of suffering, from the most simple ones to the most complicated and ultimate one, like death.

Third, coping with the consequences of sin, trying to recover what we think is our original state proper to us, attempting to heal what is wounded, certainly inflicts some pain to us also.

Yet, in all these, we can always manage to find joy if we only know how. And that is to be with God who makes himself available to us by sending his Son to become man, Jesus, and who in turn has left us his very own self through the Holy Spirit respiring in the doctrine of faith, the liturgy, especially the Holy Eucharist, and the Church in general.

Only in Christ would we know how to derive meaning and joy in the many predicaments we can encounter in life. Christ shows us how to live our life in this world. It will always be a life of joy in spite of, and even because of, the pains and sufferings.

How important it is therefore to have an intimate relationship with him, by being familiar with his teaching and with the example of his life, as well as by getting into a very personal relationship with him through prayer and the recourse of the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.

The goal to reach for us is to assume the very mind of Christ, to such a point that we can echo what St. Paul once waxed lyrical about: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2,20)

It is precisely this identification with Christ that St. Paul was led to say: “Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful.” (2 Cor 12 9-10)

We should do our best to acquire this mind of Christ. This is not indulging in some kind of megalomania. Christ himself would require us to be humble, simple and patient. It’s precisely in being humble and simple that we can aspire to receive the very power of God.