Not "happiness." Joy!

Inspired by the theme of our upcoming Matthew Kelly event

There are (at least) a couple different ways we try to live as Christians.

The first, which many people seem to take, is to treat Christianity as a set of behavioral standards to which we strive, to varying degrees and mixed (at best) success. Its goal is to help us to "be good," whatever that means. Some folks focus on the Ten Commandments, others on the Beatitudes. Some latch onto passages from St. Paul, such as Philippians 4, 8 or Galatians 5, 22, and try to live by them. Some of my fellow Catholics apply the church's teaching in the same way, as a set of restrictive rules. Others reject any or all of these as a straitjacket intended to keep us in line, to stifle our uniqueness, our individuality and, ultimately, our happiness.

Now, it isn't that I'm denigrating any of these wonderful and important sources, or putting down those who strive to live them. They have a vital place in our lives. It's just that too many Christians act as if the purpose of Christ's Incarnation was to show us how we can become worthy of salvation by our right living. This is the approach that my in-laws' neighbor has apparently followed, and I've heard very good and well-meaning people state that the purpose of Jesus' life was to teach us to live. But as wonderful as the Beatitudes and the fruit of the Holy Spirit are, if they're just a new, more stringent standard for life, then Christ is not a savior, he's merely a social reformer. And the people I know who focus primarily on living up to such a standard are rarely joyful.

We didn't then and don't now need a new standard, nor even an example, that's impossible for us to meet. What we needed then as now, and have, is a Savior, to deliver us from the dominion of the darkness of sin. Though we're sinners, Jesus, who was not a sinner, laid down his life in place of ours, and has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us, to deliver us into his kingdom of light. So the purpose of Christianity isn't to polish us up to a point at which we no longer need a savior; it is that we may accept (and respond to) God's grace, which transforms us into the sons and daughters God envisions us to be. This is what fills us with joy!

It isn't that we must try to do for ourselves what Christ has done for us. It isn't that I'm good so that I may get to heaven. It is rather that I know what Christ has done for me, and I want to respond to it at every opportunity! I trust God enough to believe that God's revealed plan for my life is immeasurably superior to what I can figure out on my own, and so I strive to live according to that plan, by the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within me. (And no, I'm not saying I'm there yet!)

The salvation that Christ has won for us is a cause for joy that is deeper than our circumstances. So it isn't that I'm not touched with sadness by what mrs tg's mom is going through right now; or for my fellow Jubilean whose father suffered a massive stroke; or over the other Jubilean, a vibrant young mom, newly diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor (latter two situations were first shared at Monday's otherwise excellent rehearsal). We'd be insensitive to pretend the world is all blue sky and sunshine when such storms are blowing. We don't neglect praying for their healing, both temporally and eternally, and reaching out to them, because of some pie-in-the-sky notion that all will be well, God will provide for their every need and those of their loved ones. And yet our sadness, our concern, our reaching out to them are undergirt by the confident joy of knowing that, indeed, somehow, God will provide for their needs, not only in this world but - as ultimately matters most - for all eternity.