Fifth Sunday of Easter
Christian Joy
The Easter season is a time of joy for us as Christians. The Liturgy in the readings and prayers carries this spirit of joy that Christ has risen, that there is new life given to the baptised, that we have hope in eternal salvation. I would like to offer some thoughts about Christian joy.
Pope Francis began his ministry by speaking of joy. Back in 2016 he said, “A Christian is a man, or a woman, of joy: a man and a woman with joy in their heart. There is no Christian without joy! You may be told that there are many such Christians but they are not Christians! They say they are, but they are not! They are missing something.”
He went on to say, “The Christian identity card is joy, the Gospel’s joy, the joy of having been chosen by Jesus, saved by Jesus, regenerated by Jesus; the joy of that hope that Jesus is waiting for us, the joy that – even with the crosses and sufferings we bear in this life – is expressed in another way, which is peace in the certainty that Jesus accompanies us, is with us.”
Easter is the special time of joy, though joy should be the character of the Christian throughout the year. The Pope reminded us that even with crosses and sufferings that come in life, the Christian has an abiding joy deep their soul. The cause of this joy is our Christian faith. Our awareness of the abiding love that God has for us. We know that Christ has conquered the two great burdens on the heart of every person: sin and death. These no longer prevail in the world and in our lives.
The Gospel reading today expresses a key source of that joy. In words said at the Last Supper, we hear them today in the light of the Resurrection. They have great meaning for us today.
The Risen Lord makes this offer to us, “make your home in me and I make mine in you”.
Let us pause for a moment with this extraordinary statement. The testimony of the early Church is that not only has God come among us through the incarnation but that God wants to and does live in us now. He not only unites himself with humanity, but He wants to unite Himself with each of us personally. God wants to be with us in an immediate way.
Of course, this receives special meaning every time we receive Holy Communion. What happens at Mass is an expression of the fact that the Risen Lord wants to have a personal engagement in each of our lives.
Jesus does not just look down from heaven and observe us, rather he wants to share deeply, intimately with us. We do not walk alone in life. Christ is always there, closer than we can imagine. We Christians live with the consciousness of the love of God for each of us. This is the constant message of St John. God is love. God dwells with us. God calls on us to love others. (We heard this in the second reading).
This is the source of our Christian joy. We know the love of God for us. This love is steady, reliable, ever available. God is close not distant. God’s love is personal and real.
In speaking about the nature of Christian joy, Pope Francis has commented that joy is a grace, a gift of the Holy Spirit, and not just positive emotions or feeling cheerful.
He said that joy “is not the consequence of emotions that burst for a wonderful thing… No, it is more. This joy, this which fills us, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit one cannot have this joy.”
He adds, “To be full of joy is the experience of the highest consolation, when the Lord makes us understand that this is something different from being cheerful, positive, bright…”
The ultimate source of Christian joy is the Holy Spirit. St Paul speaks of it as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. In his letter to the Galatians he says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).
Joy should be the ‘identity card’ of the Christian, Pope Francis reminds us.
Today, let us open our hearts to the gift of joy.
Archbishop Julian Porteous
Saturday, 2 May 2021.